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SENTRY,  OR  BEACON  HILL 
THE  BEACON  AND  THE  MONUMENT. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

Boston  Library  Consortium  Member  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/sentryorbeaconhi1877whei 


SENTltY,  Ofi  BEACON  HILL; 


BEACON  AND  THE  MONUMENT 


1635    AND   1790. 


BY    WILLIAM   WT  WHEILDON.  -3 


r  wtti 


ILLUSTRATED    WITH    PLANS    AND    HELIOTYPE    PLATES. 


COLLEGE  L1BKAKY 


CONCORD,  MASS.: 
AUTHOR'S  PRIVATE  PRINTING  OFFICE. 

1877. 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MASS. 


COPY-RIGHT 
BY   WILLIAM    W.    WHEILDON, 

1876. 


Author's  address  :  Concord,  Mass. 


PRESS-WORK 
BY   RANI),    AVERY   AND    CO. 

.FRANKLIN   STREET, 

Boston. 


PREFATORY    REMARKS 


So  completely  has  the  existence  of  the  Monument  which  stood 
on  Beacon  Hill,  no  longer  ago  than  1811,  passed  out  of  the 
public  mind,  that  few  persons  are  now  to  be  found  who  remem- 
ber it,  and  a  small  number  who  have  ever  seen  a  representation 
of  it,  or  in  fact,  think  they  ever  heard  of  it.  The  tablets  which 
have  been  preserved  in  the  State  House,  are  looked  upon  as  the 
relics  or  ruins  of  something  long  since  passed  away,  and  not  as 
parts  of  a  noble  and  beautiful  monument,  intended  to  commem- 
orate great  historical  events  and  the  fruition  of  the  efforts  of  a 
people  to  secure  their  freedom  and. independence,  and  which  has 
been  ruthlessly  destroyed.  Many  persons' who  have  seen  the 
engraving  of  the  monument,  have  asked  '-if  such  a  monument 
as  that  represents  ever  stood  in  Boston  ?"  and  others,  equally 
uninformed,  inquire  "  if  that  is  the  original  Bunker  Hill  Mon- 
ument?" We  doubt  if  any  intelligent  foreigner,  acquainted 
with  our  history,  ayouH  have  to  ask  such  questions. 

In  June,  1804,  the  Bunker  Hill  Monument  Association  ap- 
pointed a  committee  of  their  members,  consisting  of  William  W. 
Wheildon,  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  Frederic  W.  Lincoln,  Jr.,  Win- 


11  PREFATORY     REMARKS. 

slow  Lewis,  and  J.  Huntington  Wolcott,  to  consider  the  expedi- 
ency of  rebuilding  the  Beacon  Hill  Monument  of  1790,  in  Bos- 
ton. The  measure  had  at  this  time  been  twice  publicly  suggest- 
ed, viz  :  by  the  committee  appointed  to  prepare  the  Memoir  of 
Solomon  Willard,  and  previously  by  the  Hon.  Robert  C.  Win- 
throp,  in  May,  1859.     Mr.  Winthrop  said 

"  Boston  did,  indeed,  as  early  as  1790,  set  up  on  Beacon 
Hill,  a  simple  Doric  column,  surmounted  by  our  then  newly 
adopted  national  emblem  —  the  Eagle  —  in  commemoration  of 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  of  the 
great  revolutionary  events  by  which  it  was  preceded.  But  Bea- 
con Hill  itself  was  long  ago  removed  into  the  midst  of  the  sea 
and  the  shaft  reduced  to  its  original  elements  of  brick  and  stone. 
The  old  tablets,  however,  are  still  to  be  seen  in  the  Doric  hall 
of  the  State  House,  and  I  have  sometimes  wished  that  the  whole 
column  might  be  set  up  again  in  its  primal  proportions  and  sim- 
plicity, peering  above  the  trees  and  flagstaff,  on  the  highest 
elevation  of  Boston  Common,  with  the  original  tablets  in  its 
pedestal."* 

In  June,  1865,  Mr.  Wheildon,  in  behalf  of  the  committee, 
presented  a  brief  report,  in  which  it  is  said,  "  As  far  as  the  com- 
mittee have  been  able  to  ascertain  public  opinion  on  the  subject, 
there  is  a  general  conviction  that  the  early  monument  of  the 
fathers  of  the  revolution  should  be  restored  and  a  desire  that  the 
Association  should  undertake  the  service."  In  view  of  such  a 
result  the  committee  procured  an  act  of  the  legislature  which  au- 
thorizes the  association  to  rebuild  the  monument  on  some  suitable 
site  and  to  receive  the  original  tablets  from  the  Commonwealth 
for  use  in  the  work ;  which  act  was  promptly  accepted. 

*  Address  in  aid  of  the  Statue  of  Washington. 


PREFATORY    REMARKS.  HI 

At  the  annual  meeting  in  June,  1873,  the  committee  having 
been  continued,  the  chairman  made  a  second  report  on  the  sub- 
ject, in  which  reference  is  made  to  the  action  of  the  legislature. 
After  speaking  of  the  peculiar  character  of  the  monument  and 
its  patriotic  inscriptions,  the  question  is  emphatically  asked, — 
"  Should  such  a  monument  as  that  be  disturbed,  or  if  disturbed, 
uncared  for  and  destroyed  ?" 

The  committee  would  be  highly  gratified,  as  they  think  the 
entire  community  would  be,  by  the  re-building  of  the  Beacon 
Hill  Monument.  In  their  last  report  they  suggested  that  the 
admission  fee  paid  by  new  members  of  the  association  should  be 
set  apart  as  the  nucleus  of  a  fund  for  the  purpose  ;  and  if  this 
were  done  in  good  faith,  it  would  soon  receive  additions  by  sub- 
scriptions and  contributions,  and  give  assurance  of  the  ultimate 
accomplishment  of  the  work.  This  measure  is  precisely  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  plan  originally  adopted  for  the  erection  of  the 
Bunker  Hill  Monument,  and  each  member  upon  joining  the  as- 
sociation, would  appreciate  the  privilege  of  contributing  to  the 
patriotic  purpose  contemplated. 

The  committee  having  reported  a  historical  monograph  of  Sen- 
try or  Beacon  Hill,  the  Beacon  and  the  Monument,  —  matters 
so  intimately  and  interestingly  connected  with  the  history  of 
the  city,  —  it  is  now  printed  by  vote  of  the  association. 

The  Heliotype  plates  with  which  we  have  been  permitted  to 
illustrate  the  position  and  relations  of  the  monument  and  the 
digging  away  of  the  hill,  are  reduced  from  chromo-lithographs, 
belonging  to  Mr.  George  G.  Smith,  of  Boston,  the  well  known 
and  now  venerable  steel  engraver.      Mr.  Smith  furnishes  the 


]V  PREFATORY     REMARKS. 

following  account  of  them  :  Mr.  J.  R.  Smith  came  to  this  coun- 
try about  1808.  He  was  a  thoroughly  educated  artist  ;  so  far 
as  I  know  decidedly  the  most  able  drawing-master  we  ever  had, 
and  full  of  talent  in  every  way  except  the  faculty  of  making  mo- 
ney. The  sketches  from  which  these  pictures  were  taken  were 
executed  on  the  spot  some  time  in  the  year  1811  or  '12.  They 
are  now  in  my  possession,  and  I  think  the  chromo-lithographs 
were  the  earliest  executed  in  Boston.  They  are  five  in  number 
(1  to  5)  and  were  first  published  in  1855,  under  the  title  of 
"  Old  Boston." 

We  are  under  great  obligations  to  Mr.  Smith  for  permission 
to  use  these  chromos  for  the  illustration  of  our  subject  ;  only  a 
few  copies  of  them  now  remain  in  his  hands.  The  view  of  the 
town  of  Boston,  Charles  River  Bridge  (built  in  1785)  and  the 
harbor,  is  taken  from  the  Massachusetts  Magazine  of  June, 
1791,  in  the  Boston  Athenseurn. 


STATEMENT   OF   CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Beacon  or  Sentry  Hill  :  Early  History  :  The  Three  Hills  :  Johnson's  Descrip- 
tion of  the  Settlement :  Wood's  description  of  the  Three  Huls  :  Prince's 
Description  of  the  Peninsula  :  Shaw's  Account  :  the  Three  Little  Hills  : 
Names  :  Beacon  Hill  proper.  9 

CHAPTER  II. 

First  Settlers  from  Charlestown  :  Blackstone's  Residence  and  Spring  :  Mr. 
Isaac  Johnson's  Lot  :  the  Settlement  and  the  Streets  :  Sentry  street  and 
the  Common  :  Temple  street  and  the  hill  :  the  Mill  Pond  and  its  bounda- 
ry line  :  Streets  around  the  hill  :  the  "biggest  town  in  America."     19 

CHAPTER  III. 

Topographical  features  of  the  town;  Changes  since  1630  ;  the  Great  Cove  and 
Oliver's  Dock  ;  the  Broad  street  Association  ;  Streets  filled  from  Beacon 
Hill  ;  A  word  more  about  Blackstone's  Residence ;  his  sale  of  the  Pen- 
insula ;  Reserved  estate,  including  West  Hill  ;  Copley's  residence  and  his 
hill  ;  sale  of  the  estate  ;  Purchase  of  the  State  House  lot;  the  "  sumptu- 
ous city"  grown  from  its  hills.  25 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Beacon  ;  Order  for  its  erection  ;  What  a  history  it  witnessed  ;  Was  it  ever 
used  as  a  beacon?    Apprehension  of  danger  ;    the  Pequod  War  ;    the  In- 
dians around  the  town  ;  False  alarm  ;  Drilling  the  soldiers  for  service  ; 
sen  ring  them  at  night  ;    Opportune  arrival  of  supplies  from  England  ; 
•  first  Thanksgiving.  31 

CHAPTER  V. 

Defences  around  the  settlement  ;  Practical  Ideas  of  the  times  ;  Dogmatic  Re- 
ligion ;  Persecutions  ;  Charles  II.  commanding  Liberty  of  conscience  ; 
Great  Fire  in  1670  ;  Expense  of  the  defences  ;  Indian  visitors  entertained 
by  the  Governor  ;  the  Beacon  and  Fortifications  across  the  Neck  ;  Civil 
War  in  England  ;  capture  of  a  ship  in  the  harbor  ;  the  Light  house,  the 
Castle  and  the  system  of  signals  ;  General  peacefulness  of  the  settlement ; 
Defences  turned  against  those  who  built  them.  39 


VI.  STATEMENT   OF   CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Vacation  of  the  charter  ;  President  Dudley  ;  Governor  Andros  and  the  res- 
olution of  1689  ;  account  by  an  eye-witness  ;  first  house  on  Beacon  hill  ; 
Expedition  against  Louisbourg  ;  Its  capture,  June  17,  1745  ;  Excitment 
in  17G8  ;  English  trcops  expected  from  Nova  Scotia  ;  Proposed  use  of  the 
beacon  ;  the  tar  barrel  at  its  top  ;  the  Sons  of  Liberty  out-generalled  ; 
the  massacre  of  1770.  46 

CHAPTER    VII. 

Beacon  Hill  during  the  Revolution  ;  English  troops  in  the  town,  ostensibly  to 
preserve  order  ;  Occupying  the  defences  of  the  colony  against  the  people  ; 
the  Beacon  the  earliest  device  of  defence  under  their  control  :  the  Sons  of 
Liberty  use  the  church  tower  to  warn  the  country  of  danger ;  the  Port  act 
and  the  continental  congress  ;  the  conflict  of  the  19th  of  April  (partially) 
and  the  battle  of  Bunker  hill  seen  ;  Fort  built  upon  the  hill.  53 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  hill  despoiled  of  its  beacon  ;  Defences  of  the  town  after  the  evacuation ; 
The  hill  and  the  company  gathered  there  on  the  17th  of  June  ;  General 
Gage's  proclamation  of  pardon  ;  Its  exception  of  Hancock  and  Adams  ; 
counter-proclamation  of  the  provincial  congress  ;  Doggerel  account  of  the 
battle  ;  Threats  against  the  excepted  patriots  ;  the  triumph  of  their 
cause  ;  their  position  as  Governor  and  Lieut.  Governor  of  the  State  ;  the 
last  of  the  beacon.  59 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Erection  of  the  monument  ;  Description  of  the  hill,  new  state  house  and  the 
monument,  from  Dennie's  Portfolio,  in  1811  ;  the  monument  fitst  propos- 
ed ;  Mr.  Bulfinch  the  architect  furnishes  the  design  ;  his  connection  with 
the  hill  in  various  ways  ;  ■  commencement  of  the  work  ;  description  from 
the  Massachusetts  Magazine  in  1790  ;  absence  of  all  public  proceedings  or 
ceremonies  ;  dimensions  of  the  column  ;  inscriptions  upon  the  tablets 
from  Gov.  Bowdoin's  papers  ;  their  authorship.  65 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  first  public  monument  of  the  revolution —  Should  have  been  respected  and 
preserved  —  The  New  State  House  contemplated  by  Gov.  Hancock —  Lay- 
ing the  corner-stone  by  the  Grand  Lodge  —  Inscription  on  the  plate — En- 
largement of  the  building  —  Its  unrivalled  location  —  Extract  from  the 
journal  of  a  visitor  —  "  Beacon  Hill  :  a  local  poem."  77 

CHAPiER  XI. 

Blackstone's  Spring  —  The  Great  Spring  in  Spring  Lane  —  Springate — Mount 
Vernon  Springs — Spring  in  Howard  Street  —  Theory  of  Dr.  Lathrop 
concerning  the  Beacon  Hill  Springs  —  Observations  on  the  well  at  the 
State  House  —  On  the  sources  and  supply  of  the  Springs.  83 


STATEMENT   OF    CONTENTS.  Vll. 

CHAPTER   XII. 

The  fate  of  Beacon  Hill  —  Its  value  as  a  gravel  hank  and  as  real  estate  —  Its 
first  owner  —  Division  of  the  land  and  future  ownership  —  Col.  Shrimp- 
top —  John  Yeamans  —  Its  use  as  a  cow  pasture  —  Its  principal  divis- 
ion;}—  The  easterly  portion — Hancock  mansion  —  Decease  of  Thomas 
Hancock  and  his  widow  —  Inheritance  of  John  Hancock — Final  division 
of  the  property  —  Naming  the  streets  —  Sale  of  the  monument  lot  by  the 
town  —  Celebrated  law  case  :  Thurston  vs.  Hancock  and  another.         89 

CHAPTER  XI  LI. 

Plan  of  the  town  in  1728  ;  Paul  Revere "s  engraving  of  the  town  and  harbor  ; 
View  of  the  town  from  Dorchester  ;  Recollections  of  a  merchant  ;  Recol- 
lections of  Dr.  Bowditch  ;  Alford  Estate  ;  Daniel  D.  Rogers'  and  William 
Thurston's  houses  ;  Recollections  of  General  Oliver  ;  of  John  G.  Palfrey  ; 
Use  of  the  material  of  Trimountain  ;  the  Hancock  house  and  grounds  ; 
Miss  Gardner's  Recollections  ;  the  Eulogy  on  Gov.  Bowdoin.  99 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

The  peninsula  as  an  Indian  resort ;  Discovery  of  skulls  ;  Cook's  pasture  ;  the 
Bowdoin  estate  ;  Ropewalks  on  Haneock  street  ;  Winthrop's  "  govern- 
mental tent  ;"  Views  from  the  summit  of  the  hill  ;  the  Copley  estate  ; 
Millpond  corporation  ;  Digging  down  the  hill  ;  Preservation  of  the  Tab- 
lets and  the  Eagle  ;  Improvements  on  the  hill  and  streets.  106 

CHAPTER   XV. 

Interest  attached  to  the  Monument  and  the  hill  ;  Commencement  of  the  dig 
ging  upon  the  range  ;  The  hill  dug  away  and  streets  laid  out ;  Should 
not  the  Monument  be  rebuilt  ?  Considerations  on  the  subject  ;  Action  of 
the  Bunker  Hill  Monument  Association  ;  Petition  to  the  Legislature  ;  Act 
authorizing  the  Association  to  rebuild  the  Monument  ;  Its  acceptance  by 
the  Association  ;   Conclusion.  110 


PLANS   AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


The  Heliotype  (1)  facing  title-page  is  one  of  Mr.  Smith's 
chromos,  and  is  a  view  of  the  State  House  (from  the  north),  ot 
the  Monument,  and  the  work  upon  the  hill. 

The  plate  fronting  page  9,  is  a  view  of  Boston  and  the  Monu- 
ment from  Breed's  Hill,  Charlestown,  in  1791. 

Page  9.  View  of  Tri-mountain,  as  it  appeared  in  1630,  to 
Governor  Winthrop's  company. 

Facing  page  28.  Plan  of  Beacon  Hill  with  Beacon,  in 
1722.  A,  is  the  First  Church,  nearly  opposite  King  street ;  C, 
the  Old  South ;  E,  King's  Chapel ;  K,  French  Church,  School 
street ;  d,  the  Province  House ;  g,  alms  house ;  h,  bridewell. 

Page  81.  One  of  the  several  engravings  of  the  Beacon. 

Page  65.  View  of  Beacon  Hill  Monument,  by  Sully. 

Page  89.  2.  Beacon  Hill  from  Mount  Vernon  street,  near 
the  head  of  Hancock  street,  showing  the  back  side  of  Mr. 
Thurston's  house,  the  long  bank  between  Mount  Vernon  and 
Derne  streets,  with  a  row  of  trees  on  the  former.     12  x  15. 

Page  99.  3.  Beacon  Hill  from  Mount  Vernon,  head  of  Park 
street,  showing  the  easterly  end  of  the  State  House.    11  x  15. 

Page  101.  4.  Beacon  Hill  from  Temple  street,  showing  the 
lofty  summit,  with  flights  of  steps  leading  up.     12  x  16. 

Page  102.  5.  Beacon  Hill,  with  Mr.  Thurston's  house,  from 
Bowdoin  street,  showing  the  bank  where  the  hill  had  been  dug 
away  on  that  side,  and  a  house  on  Bowdoin  st.     12  x  15 

Page  110.  Plan  of  Beacon  Hill  with  site  of  the  Monu- 
ment. This  plan  shows  the  exact  location  of  the  Six  Bods 
Square,  laid  out  for  the  Beacon  in  1635,  and  occupied  by  the 
Monument  in  1790.  The  dotted  lines  represent  the  first  path- 
way from  the  Common.  The  monument  stood  at  a  point  100 
feet  from  the  southeasterly  corner  of  Temple  street. 


SENTRY     OR     BEACON     HILL 


TRI-MOCNTAIN    OR   BEACON    HILL    FROM    CHARLESTOWN. 


CHAPTER   I. 


Sentry  or  Beacon  Hill  —  Early  History  —  The  Three  Hills  —  Johnson's  Des- 
cription of  the  Settlement  —  Wood's  Description  of  the  Three  Hills  — 
Prince"s  Description  of  the  Peninsula — Shaw's  Account  —  The  Three  Lit- 
tle Hills  —  Names — Beacon  Hill  proper. 

Beacon  Hill,  although  no  lono-er  to  be  recognized  in  its 
original  features  and  relations,  still  so  far  retains  its  name  as 
to  be  known  by  it,  as  Ludgate  Hill  in  London,  is  known  by  the 
name  of  the  street  that  runs  over  it.  Yet  it  is  historical  and 
must  ever  be  remembered  as  a  prominent  feature  in  the  geogra- 
phy and  the  early  annals  of  the  city.  It  has  a  colonial  and  a 
revolutionary  history  of  peculiar  interest.  In  its  colonial  his- 
tory, it  was  called  Tri -mountain  and  Sentry,  until  the  erection 
of  the  Beacon  upon  it,  when  it  was  known  as  Beacon  Hill,  and 


10  SENTRY  OR  BEACON  DILL. 

was  on  more  than  one  occasion  connected  with  subjects  of  very 
considerable  interest  to  the  colonists.  It  was  a  conspicuous 
object  in  the  landscape  on  the  approach  of  the  early  settlers 
and  was  generally  the  first  land  made  on  entering  the  haiior. 
It  was  the  most  prominent  of  the  Three  Hills  which  character- 
ized the  town,  —  on  one  of  which  the  first  Colonial  Fort  was 
built  ;  on  another  was  erected  the  Beacon  for  alarming  the 
country  in  case  of  danger  or  any  outbreak,  and  the  third  be- 
came celebrated  in  later  times  as  the  location  of  the  battery 
which  played  upon  Bunker  Hill  and  set  fire  to  Charlestown. 
Sentry  or  Beacon  Hill,  with  its  three  peculiar  peaks,  was  spoken 
of  as  a  mountain,  and,  in  view  of  its  comparative  height  and 
surroundings,  appears  to  have  merited  that  distinction.  It 
comprised  more  than  one  hundred  acres  of  land,  and  the  ascent 
was  gradual  on  the  easterly  and  south-easterly  sides.  Although 
greatly  reduced  in  elevation  and  covered  with  buildings  which 
mark  the  spot  from  all. distant  points  of  view,  it  is  still  the 
highest  land  within  the  peninsula.  The  commanding  position 
of  the  State  House,  on  the  summit  of  the  present  hill,  in 
the  general  view  of  the  city,  indicates  how  prominent  and  pic- 
turesque was  the  hill  itself  in  its  integrity,  when  it  finished  and 
gave  symmetry  to  the  landscape.  From  the  surrounding  coun- 
try and  the  harbor,  the  State  House,  whose  golden  dome  is 
somewhat  higher  than  the  summit  of  the  hill  in  the  days  of 
the  colony  and  town,  is  the  most  conspicuous  object  in  the  city, 
and  like  the  original  hill,  gives  expression  to  the  settlement 
which  it  overlooks  and  crowns  with  dignity  the  living  picture. 

The  Three  Hills  which  we  have  mentioned,  are  defined  by 
Capt.  Edward  Johnson,  in  his  "  Wonder-working  Providence," 


SENTRY  OR  BEACON  HILL.  11 

in  a  very  quaint  description  of  the  town,  twenty  years  after 
its  settlement,  as  follows  : 

"  Invironed  as  it  is  with  the  Brinish  flouds,  saving  one  small 
"  Istmos  which  gives  free  accesse  to  the  neighbor  towncs,  by  land 
"  on  the  south  side  ;  on  the  northwest  and  northeast,  two  con- 
stant Faires  [ferries]  are  kept  for  daily  traffique  thereunto. — 
"  The  forme  of  this  Town  is  like  a  heart,  naturally  scituated  for 
"  fortifications,   having  two  hills  on  the  frontice  part  thereof, 
"  next  the  sea  ;  the  one  well   fortified  on  the  superfices  thereof 
"  with  store  of  great  artillery  well  mounted.     The  other  hath 
':a  very  strong  battery,*  built  of  whole  Timber  and  filled  with 
"  Earth,  at  the  descent  of  the  hill  [Copp's  HillfJ  in  the  extreme 
"  poynt  thereof;  betwixt  these  two  strong  armes  lies  a  large 
"  Cave  or  Bay,  on  which  the  chiefest  part  of  this  Town  is  built, 
"  over-topped  with  a  third  hill ;  all  three  like  over-topping  tow- 
"  ers,  keepe  a  constant  watch  to  fore-see  the  approach  of  forrein 
"  dangers,   being   furnished  with  a  Beacon  and    lowd  babling 
"guns,  to  give  notice  by  their  redoubled  eccho  to  all  their  sister 
"  townes.     The  chiefe  edifice  of  this  city-like  Towne  is  crowded 
"  on  the  Sea-bankes,  and  wharfed  out  with  great  industry  and 
"  cost,  the  buildings  beautifull  and  large  ;  some  fairly  set  forth 
"  with  brick,  tile,  stone  and  slate,  and  orderly  placed  with  comly 
"  streets,  whose  continuall  inlargement  presages  some  sumptuous 
"  city.   The  wonder  of  this  mod  erne  age,  that  a  few  years  should 
"  bring  forth  such  great  matters  by  so  meane  a  handfull."  J 

Wood,  another  of  the  early  historians  of  New  England  who 


*  North  Battery.         f  Mill  or  Snow  hill,  and  afterwards  (as  now)  Copp's 
hill.     Wm.  Copp,  a  shoe  maker,  took  the  oath  in  1641,  and  owned  the  mill. 
t  "  Wonder-working  Providence  of  Sion's  Saviour  in  New-England." 


12  SENTRY    OR   BEACON    HILL. 

have   made   their    names    famous  by  their  quaint  narratives, 
speaks   of  the  Three  Hills  as  follows  : 

"  Having  on  the  south  side  at  one  corner,  a  great  broad  hill, 
"  whereon  is  planted  a  Fort,  which  can  command  any  ship  as 
"  shee  sayles  into  any  Harbour  within  the  still  Bay.*  On  the 
"  North  side  is  another  Hill  equall  in  bignesse,  whereon  stands 
"  a  Winde-mill.  To  the  North-west  is  a  high  Mountaine  with 
"  three  little  rising  Hills  on  the  top  of  it,  whereof  it  is  called 
"  the  Tramount.  From  the  top  of  this  Mountaine  a  man  may 
"  overlooke  all  the  Hands  which  lie  before  the  Bay,  and  discry 
"  such  ships  as  are  upon  the  Sea-coast."  j- 

Under  the  date  of  September  7,  1630,  old  style,  when  Bos- 
ton received  its  present  name  from  the  Court  of  Assistants,  at 
Charlestown,  PrinceJ  makes  the  following  observations  : 

"  Thus  this  remarkable  Peninsula,  about  two  Miles  in 
"  Length  and  one  in  Breadth,  in  those  times,  appearing  at  High 
"  Water  in  the  Form  of  two  Islands  who's  Indian  Name  was 
"  Shawmut ;  but  I  suppose  on  the  account  of  three  contiguous 
"  Hills  appearing  in  a  range  to  those  at  Charlestown,  by  the 
"  English  call'd  at  first  Trimountain,  and  now  receives  the 
"  Name  of  Boston.  Which  Deputy  Governor  Dudley  says, 
"  they  had  before  intended  to  call  the  Place  they  first  resolv'd 
"  on  ;  and  Mr.  Hubbard,  that  they  gave  this  Name  on  the  ac- 
"  count  of  Mr.  Cotton,  [the  then  famous  Puritan  Minister  of 
"  Boston  in  England  ;  for  whom  they  had  the  highest  Rever- 


*  Boston  harbor  was  then  called  Massachusetts  Bay. 
t  "  New-EDgland's  Prospect,"  London,  163-1. 

$  "  Chronological.  History  of  New  England  in  the  Form  of  Annals,"  by 
Thomas  Prince.  M.  A.     Boston,  N.  E-,  mdccxxxvi. 


SENTRY  OR  BEACON  HILL.  13 

"  ence,  and  of  whose  coining  over  they  were  doubtless  in  some 
"  hopeful  Prospect.]  " 

In  speaking  of  Sentry  Hill,  Shaw  says  "by  the  first  settlers 
"  of  Charlestown  it  was  called  Tre-mount,  on  account  of  its 
"  three  hills,  which  to  them  appeared  in  range.  These  were  not, 
"however,  Beacon,  Copp's  and  Fort  Hills,  as  generally  sup- 
"  posed,  but  three  little  rising  hills  on  the  top  of  a  high  moun- 
"  tain  on  the  north-west  side  of  the  town.  This  high  mountain 
"  is  the  high  ground  extending  from  the  head  of  Hanover  street, 
"  south-westerly  to  the  water  beyond  the  new  State  House,  the 
"  summit  of  which  was  since  called  Beacon  Hill,  now  almost 
"  levelled  to  its  base."* 

When  the  Peninsula  bore  the  Indian  name  of  Shawmutf  and 
Blackstone  was  its  only  inhabitant,  and  Charlestown  bore  that 
of  Mishawum  and  Walfovd  was  its  only  inhabitant,  names  had 
not  been  given  to  the  Three  Hills.  The  building  of  the  Fort 
furnished  a  name  for  one  of  them,  the  Wind-mill  for  a  time, 
the  name  for  another,  and  the  central  hill,  with  its  three  little 
hills,  received  the  name  of  Tra-mount,  which  it  retained  until  it 
was  used  as  a  lookout. —  a  place  of  observation  and  watching, — 
when  it  was  called  Sentry  Hill  :  after  the  erection  of  the  Bea- 
con, in  1635,  it  received  the  name  of  Beacon  Hill,  and  lost  the 
name  of  Tra-mount  or  Tre-mount.  which  it  had  conferred  upon 
the  town.  So  that  we  have  had  for  this  hill  the  names  of 
Sentry,  Tra-mount  and  Beaion,  and  for  the  settlement  those  of 

*  "  Topographical  and  Historical  Description  of  Boston,"  1817. 

t  Where  does  our  sometime  Minister  at  London,  Geo.  M.  Dallas,  find  his 
authority  for  the  phrase  "Puritan  Villagers  of  Isiimut,  at  the  head  of  Massa- 
chusetts Bay"?     See  speech  at  Boston,  England. 


14  SENTRY   OR  BEACON   HILL. 

Shawmut,  Tra-mountaine  and  Boston.     Prior  to  the  settlement 
the  peninsula  was  called  Elackstonc's  Neck. 

The  Three  Hills  which  we  have  described,  so  prominent  and 
conspicuous  in  the  landscape  and  history  of  the  city,  were  re- 
garded "  with  a  kind  of  religious  veneration,  and  Boston  is  not 
less  distinguished  for  her  three  hills  than  Rome  for  her  Seven." 
Each  has  been  distinguished  in  the  colonial  and  revolutionary 
periods  :  one  was  fortified  by  the  colonists  for  their  defence,  and 
the  other  two  by  the  British  army  in  carrying  on  the  war 
against  the  Americans.*  They  have  been  conspicuous  in  local 
historic  dramas,  both  peaceful  and  warlike,  and  of  course, 
have  been  much  reduced  in  height  as  well  as  changed  in  use.  — 
One  of  them,  —  known  as  Fort  Hill,  —  within  a  few  years,  has 
entirely  disappeared  and  the  material  used  in  the  construction 
of  Atlantic  Avenue,  —  the  border  street  on  the  harbor  and  the 
most  prominent  commercial  avenue  in  the  city.  Upon  the  top 
of  this  hill,  on  the  24th  of  May,  1632,  the  colonists  commenc- 
ed the  erection  of  a  Fort,  which  was  for  a  long  time  the  most 
conspicuous  and  important  means  of  defence  in  the  settlement. 
The  people  of  Charlestown,  Roxbury  and  Dorchester  assisted  in 
building  this  celebrated  fort.  This  hill  was  the  scene  of  much 
interest  and  great  excitement  in  the  Andros  rebellion,  in  1689, 
almost  precisely  one  hundred  years  before  the  building  of  the 
Beacon  Hill  Monument. 

The  first  of  the  three  Little  Hills  which  constituted  the  range 
as  seen  from  Charlestown,    received  the  name  of  Cotton  Hill, 

In  1774,  when  Gage's  soldiers  were  in  want  of  barracks,  it  was  propos- 
ed "to  put  two  companies  :nto  a  solid  barrack  or  block  house,  on  the  top  of 
Bacon,  Hill,  which  should  be  enclosed  with  a  trench  and  pallisade." 


SENTRY  OR  BEACON  HILL.  15 

and  afterwards  Pemberton  Hill.  Drake  says,  "Cotton  Hill 
"  was  an  eminence  near  the  southerly  termination  of  Pemberton 
"  Square,  and  nearly  opposite  the  gate  of  King's  Chapel  Bury- 
"  ing  Ground.  The  Rev.  John  Cotton  resided  near  it,  (now 
"  Trcmont  Row,)  and  hence  its  name."  Henry  Vane,  a  young 
religious  fanatic  of  noble  family  in  England,  who  came  over  in 
1635  and  was  chosen  Governor  in  1686,  "had  a  small  house 
"  which  he  lived  in.  at  the  side  of  the  hill  above  Queen  (Court) 
"street,  which  he  gave  to  Rev.  John  Cotton,  at  the  time  he 
(Vane,)  returned  .to  England."  According  to  Drake,  Cotton 
lived  at  the  place  named,  adjoining  what  was  afterwards  the 
estate  of  Lieut.  Gov.  Phillips.*  before  Vane  came  out,  and  Vane 
lived  with  him,  making  a  small  addition  to  the  house,  which  he 
gave  to  Cotton  Avhen  he  left  the  country  ;  but  it  would  seem  by 
Hutchinson's  note  that  Vane  built  the  house,  which  we  think, 
is  probably  correct.  At  any  rate  Sir  Henry  Vane,  when  only 
twenty-four  years  of  age,  was  elected  governor  over  Winthrop 
and  Dudley,  and  lived  in  the  first  house  erected  on  Beacon 
Hill,  if  he  did  not  build  it.  Fanatic,  as  he  was  in  this  country, 
in  England  he  joined  the  Parliament  against  the  King,  and 
upon  the  Restoration  of  Charles  II.,  in  1662,  was  convicted  of 
treason  and  beheaded  —  execrated  and  lamented  ;  eulogized  and 
denounced. 


*  Gov.  Phillips's  bouse  was  originally  built  by  the  uncle  of  Peter  Fan- 
euil,  who  inherited  it.  On  the  summer  house,  very  near  the  spot  now  occu- 
pied by  the  First  Baptist  Church  (Rev.  Dr.  Neale's)  was  a  gilded  grass-hop- 
per, like  that  now  on  Faneuil  hall,  which  some  persons  erroneously  suppose 
belongs  to  the  arms  of  the  Faneuil  family. 


16  SENTRY  OR  BEACON  HILL. 

Ths  second  hill  in  ths  range  was  Sentry  or  Beacon  Hill,  and 
the  latter  name,  since  the  early  times,  has  included  the  other 
two  hills.  It  was  the  central  point,*  and  was  somewhat  more 
elevated  than  either  of  the  other  summits.  Shaw  says  "the 
form  of  the  hill  resembled  a  sugar  loaf" —  a  comparison  not 
entirely  borne  out  by  what  we  know  of  the  hill,  but  more  cor- 
rect in  respect  to  the  view  from  Charlestown,  as  represented  in 
the  engraving,  than  of  those  from  its  other  sides.  Its  top  was 
comparatively  flat  for  the  space  of  six  rods  at  least,  in  the  centre 
of  which  was  the  Beacon  and  afterwards  the  Monument. 

Snow  speaks  of  "  Beacon  Hill  with  its  two  eminences  *  * 
"  extending  through  the  centre  of  the  peninsula,  from  the  river 
"  (Charles)  to  the  coves.  *  *  Of  late  years,  while 
"  it  laid  open  as  a  pasture  ground  for  cattle,  the  barberry  and 
"the  wild  rose  grew  upon  it.  The  eminence  almost  contigu- 
ous to  Beacon  Hill  on  the  east,  was  rather  higher  than  that 
"on  its  western  side.  It  reached  towards  Tremont  street  and 
"  thence  with  a  very  slow  descent  in  three  directions,  led  to  the 
"  Springate,  the  Market  Cove  and  the  Mill-pond  through 
"  Sudbury  street. " 

The  third  hill  was  at  the  western  extremity  of  the  range,  and 
was  variously  called  Copley's  Hill,  Mount  Vernon  and  Mount 
Horam,  and  possibly  some  other  impolite  names.  On  a  map 
drawn  by  Henry  Pelham,  in  1776,  a  portion  of  Beacon  Hill, 


*It  is  possible  that  this  fact,  "the  Central  point,"  rather  than  that 
previously  stated,  gave  to  the  hill  its  first  name,  Centry  ;  but  as  it  was  always 
regarded  as  a  lookout,  where  the  colonists  'kept  watch  to  foresee  the  approach 
of  forrein  dangers,"  we  give  the  preference  to  Sentry,  as  probably  correct. 


SENTRY  OR  BEACON  DILL.  17 

just  soutli  of  the  present  location  of  Louisburg  Square,  is  called 
Copley's  Hill.  Before  the  settlement  it  was  West  Hill.  It  was 
of  no  great  account  in  the  colonial  times,  but  was  fortified  by 
the  British  in  1775,  and  was  finally  dug  down  and  the  earth 
used  to  fill  up  the  river  and  form  Charles  street,  for  many  years 
the  border  street  on  that  side  of  the  town.  Snow  says,  "  the 
"  westernmost  eminence  or  left  shoulder  of  this  hill,  as  Johnson 
"  might  call  it,  making  no  unapt  comparison  of  the  three  to  the 
"  head  and  shoulders  of  a  man,  was  farther  from  the  Beacon, 
"  and  occupied  what  is  now  called  Mount  Vernon.  The  highest 
"points  were  probably  between  Sumner*  and  Pinkney  streets, 
"  giving  an  easy  descent  towards  Cambridge  street  on  the  north, 
"  and  a  more  rapid  one  to  Beacon  street  on  the  south.  On  the 
"  top,  directly  opposite  Charles  street  meeting-house,  there  was 
"  a  boiling  spring  open  in  three  places,  at  a  height  of  not  less 
"  than  eighty  feet  above  the  water." 

Scarcely  any  trees  were  growing  on  the  Peninsula  at  the 
time  of  its  settlement  and  the  hills  were  bare,  so  that  Wood 
says,  "their  greatest  wants  be  Wood  and  Meadow-ground, 
"  which  were  never  in  that  place."  He  speaks,  however,  of 
"  rich  Corne-fields  and  fruitfull  gardens  ;  having  likewise 
"  sweete  and  pleasant  Springs."  The  Great  Tree  on  the  Com- 
mon, was  known  as  a  great  tree  in  1784. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  we  think,  that  Beacon  Hill  properly 
included,  as  has  been  said,  the  range  of  hills  from  the  head  of 
Hanover  street  to  Charles  River,  or  from  the  river  to  the  coves ; 
and  this  area  was  bounded  by  a  base  line  which  is  approximately 


*  Sumner  Street  is  described  as  running  "  From  Rogers'  corner  round  the 
new  State  house,  S.  W.  by  Beacon  hill."     "In  1833,  it  was  erased," 


18  SENTRY    OR    BEACON    HILL. 

represented  at  this  time  by  Tremont,  Court,  Cambridge  and 
Charles  streets  and  a  line  extending  from  the  Milldam  across 
the  Common  to  Park  street  church.  It  was  distant  and  entirely 
distinct  from  Copp's  Hill  and  Fort  Hill,  lying  southwest  from 
the  former,  northwest  from  the  latter  and  north  from  the  neck, 
nearly  in  the  centre  of  the  peninsula.  It  was  conspicuous,  as 
we  have  seen,  by  its  height  and  commanding  prospect,  and  was 
made  more  so  by  its  three  peculiar  summits,  all  of  which,  — 
whatever  regrets  there  maybe  concerning  them, — have  been 
made  so  available  in  the  enlargement  and  improvement  of  the 
city.  The  name  of  Tra-mount,  therefore,  from  the  appearance 
of  the  range,  was  correctly  applied  and  with  apt  propriety  by 
the  early  settlers  at  Charlestown  ;  and  after  the  disappearance 
of  the  three  peaks  it  was  very  natural  for  later  writers  to  sup- 
pose that  the  name  was  derived  from  the  three  distinct  hills. 


CHAPTER   II. 


First  Settlers  from  Charlestown — ■  Blackstone's  Residence  and  Spring  —  Mr. 
Isaac  Johnson  and  his  Lot  —  The  Settlement  and  the  Streets  —  Sentry 
street  and  the  Common  —  Temple  street  arid  the  hill  —  The  Mill-pond 
and  its  boundary  line  —  Streets  around  the  hill  —  The  "Biggest  town 
in  America." 

The  first  settlers  of  Boston,  who  came  over  from  Charles- 
town  at  the  invitation  of  Mr.  William  Blackstone,*  (who  is 
supposed  to  have  settled  here  in  1623,  or  about  that  time,)  are 
said  to  have  "pitched  their  tents  at  the  base  of  the  three  hills, 
on  the  eastern  side."  This  would  be  near  the  foot  of  Court 
street  and  from  thence  to  School  street  and  the  neighborhood  of 
Springate,  now  Spring  Lane,  where  was  located  the  best  known 
spring  in  the  peninsula,  and  which  was  a  great  inducement  to 
those  of  Charlestown  to  remove.  Blackstone's  Spring,  so  called, 
was  that  on  the  westerly  slope  of  Beacon  Hill,  near  where  the 
grass  plat  now  is  in  Louisburg  Square.  "  This,"  it  is  said, 
"poured  forth  its  waters  in  bounteous  streams  in  1784,  and 
"  even  much  later,  until  the  hill  was  removed  and  Louisburg 
"  Square  laid  out,  about  the  year  1834."     Another  spring  is 


*  Some  writers  spell  his  name  Blaxton  ;  but  that  which  we  use  is  accepted 
officially  by  the  city. 


20  SENTRY  OR  BEACON  HILL. 

spoken  of  as  running  from  the  [north]  eastern  head  of  Beacon 
Hill  into  Howard  street,  —  and  this  spring,  under  the  Howard 
Athenaeum,  is  still  in  abundant  use. 

There  seems  to  be  some  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  where 
Blackstone  lived  ;  or  rather  perhaps  as  to  names  and  localities. 
One  account  says  he  lived  at  the  northerly  end  of  the  peninsula, 
since  known  as  Barton's  Point,  and  where  for  many  years 
the  town's  poor  house  stood.  He  probably  did  not  live  within 
a  half  mile  of  this  point.  Dr.  Shurtleff  says  "  Blackstone's 
'■  Point  was  in  the  neighborhood  of  West  Cedar  street,  and  be- 
"  tween  Cambridge  and  Pinkney  streets.  East  of  this  was 
"situated  Mr.  Blackstone's  garden,  and  not  fir  distant  was  the 
"  memorable  spring  which  supplied  him  with  water."* 

But  wherever  those  from  Charlestown  "'  pitched  their  tents," 
wherever  Blackstone  lived  or  wherever  his  spring  was  located, 
it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  "many  removed  to  the  north  end, 
which  became  the  most  elegant  and  populous  part  of  the  town." 
It  is  suggested  that  some  of  them  may  have  remained  or  after- 
wards located  "  at  the  base  of  the  hills  ;"  but  it  does  not  ap- 
pear that  any  of  them  built  upon  the  hill  prior  to  Mr.  Vane 
or  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cotton,  in  1633  or  1635.  It  is  said,  however, 
that  that  "  pious  gentleman,"  Mr.  Isaac  Johnson,  one  of  the 
Massachusetts  Company,  who  arrived  at  Salem  in  June,  1630, 
selected  for  his  lot  the  square  now  bounded  by  Court,  Wash- 
ington, School  and  Tremont  streets,  at  the  base  of  Cotton  Hill  ; 


*  "We  do  not  think  Barton's  Point  and  Blackstone's  Point  were  the  same  : 
the  former  was  north  of  Cambridge  street,  near  Leverett  street,  on  which  the 
poor  house  when  it  was  removed  from  Beacon  street,  in  1801,  was  erected,  and 
the  latter  was  south  of  it  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  where  Washington  proposed 
to  land  the  first  division  of  his  army,  in  1776. 


SENTRY  OR  BEACON  HILL.  21 

but  Mr.  Johnson  died  before  the  removal  from  Charlestown,  on 
the  30th  of  September,  and  very  possibly  was  buried,  not  in  the 
lot  described,  as  stated  on  the  authority  of  Judge  Sewall,  at  the 
base  of  the  hill,  but  near  the  remains  of  his  beloved  and  beau- 
tiful wife  Arabella,  who  died  at  Salem  about  a  month  previous- 
ly, —  or  it  may  be  in  Charlestown.  He  was  early  and  earnest 
in  favor  of  the  removal  to  Boston,  as  proposed  by  Blackstone  ; 
and,  it  is  said,  selected  or  received  by  grant,  the  lot  above 
mentioned,  between  Washington  and  Tremont  streets.  Dying 
so  soon  after  his  arrival  in  this  country,  and  before  the  removal 
of  the  church  from  Charlestown,  it  is  not  probable  that  he  ever 
occupied  or  improved  the  lot  in  any  way. 

It  is  well  known,  however,  that  the  principal  settlement  of 
the  town  was  around  the  cove  and  at  the  north  end  ;  that  is 
to  say,  north  of  the  creek  which  separated  that  portion  from 
the  peninsula  and  made  it  an  island.  Of  course  the  settlement 
gradually  moved  towards  the  south,  keeping  generally  along 
the  "  sea-bankes,"  and  there  were  no  buildings  upon  the  hill,-— 
excepting  as  already  mentioned  at  the  base,  —  for  many  years. 
Views  of  the  town  as  late  as  1757  and  1774,  do  not  show  any 
houses  on  the  hill  ;  and  in  Paul  Revere's  engraving  of  1768, 
the  buildings  are  along  the  shore  and  Beacon  Hill  is  seen  above 
the  town  in  the  distance. 

Streets  —  or  rather  lanes  and  alleys  —  had  been  laid  out  at 
the  north  end,  along  the  docks  and  wharves,  and  towards  the 
west  and  south,  Avhile  unmade  roads  and  paths  extended  beyond 
in  different  directions  and  over  the  neck  of  the  peninsula,  — so 
that  the  streets  of  Baston,  not  without  reason,  are  said  to  have 
been  laid  out  originally  as  cow  paths.  On  the  30th  of  March, 
1040,  it  appears  by  the  records  of  the  town,  a  street  Avas  laid 


22  BEACON  OR  SENTRY  HILL. 

out  to  lead  up  to  the  hill,  which  at  this  time  was  a  great  pas- 
ture ;  and  a  space  of  six  rods  square  was  reserved  for  public 
use  on  its  summit,  which  included  the  Beacon.  This  street  was 
called  Sentry  or  Centry  street,  and  represented  Park  street  of 
the  present  day.  Under  the  same  date  it  was  "  Ordered,  that 
"  henceforth  there  shall  be  no  land  granted  either  for  house 
"  plot  or  garden,  to  any  person,  out  of  the  open  ground  or  com- 
"  mon  field,  which,  is  left  between  the  Sentry  Hill  and  Mr. 
"  Colburn's  end,  except  three  or  four  lots  to  make  up  the  street 
"  from  brother  Robert  Walker's  to  the  Round  Marsh."*  Also, 
"  ordered  that  the  street  from  Mr.  Atherton  Haulghe's  to  Sen- 
"  try  Hill,  be  laid  out  and  so  kept  open  forever."  This  is  sup- 
posed to  be  School  street  and  that  part  of  Beacon  street  lead- 
ing to  the  State  House. 

"  A  street  was  early  laid  out  in  the  vicinity,  if  not  in  the 
"  very  course  of  Temple  street,  and  those  among  ua  not  very 
"old  can  well  remember  Beacon  Hill  steps,  which  stood  at  the 
"  head  of  it,  to  conduct  us  to  a  spot  that  we  shall  ever  recollect 
"  with  pleasure  and  regret.  The  top  of  this  beautiful  hill  was 
"  138  feet  and  a  half  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  It  afforded 
"an  'extensive  and  most  enchanting  prospect  of  the  country 
"  round,'  and  of  the  islands  in  the  harbor.  The  spirit  of  spec- 
ulation has  in  an  evil  hour  laid  it  low,  and  posterity  must 
"  satisfy  themselves  with  a  dull  description  instead  of  enjoying 
"  the  reality."f     Posterity  is  easily  satisfied  in  this  matter. 


*  Snow  says,  "  the  field  of  Mr.  Colburn  contained  the  greater  part  of  the 
present  Common,  and  probably  extended  at  that  time  as  far  as  Beacon  street/' 

t  Snow's   History  of  Boston. 


Plan,  of BEACON HILL  irilh  sHcaf'muumiot/. 
I8Y6. 


SENTRY  OR  BEACON  HILL.  23 

When  we  consider  the  height  of  this  hill  and  the  steepness  of 
its  spurs  on  the  north,  northeast  and  northwest  sides,  —  where 
in  fact  the  waters  of  Charles  River  and  the  Cove,  (afterwards 
the  Mill-pond)  came  up  to  the  rising  ground  around  its  base, — 
we  cannot  wonder  that  it  was  dug  away  and  the  material  in 
part  applied  to  the  grading  of  its  sides,  making  them  inhab- " 
itable  and  more  than  doubling  the  amount  of  land  in  that  sec- 
tion of  the  peninsula.  The  line  of  the  Mill-pond  is  described 
as  passing  along  the  margin  of  Mill-pond  street,  where  about 
one  half  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  hung  over  it ;  thence  more 
easterly  across  Union,  Friend  and  Portland  streets ;  thence 
westerly  across  Pitts  and  Gooch  streets  to  Leverett  street,  being 
at  this  point  a  short  distance  from  Temple  street,  which  leads 
directly  up  the  hill.  In  any  practical  view  of  the  matter 
with  reference  to  the  growth  of  the  town  and  its  future,  in 
the  digging  away  of  this  hill,  there  can  be  nothing  for  pos- 
terity to  regret.  The  reduction  of  all  three  of  the  hills,  then 
or  later,  was  inevitable.  The  fate  of  Fort  Hill  shows  what 
would  have  been  that  of  Beacon  Hill  had  it  been  left  in  its 
original  form. 

In  a  list  of  streets  in  Boston,  in  1722,*  are  the  following  : 

"  From  Beacon  street,  N.  W.  to  Allen's  orchard,  Davies' 
Lane,  now  Walnut  street. 

"From  Alford's  corner  to  Century  Hill,  Century  street,  now 
Belknap  street. 

"  From  Beacon  street,  northerly  to  Cambridge  street,  George 
street —  same  now." 

t  "  The  Vade  Mecuin  for  America,"'  Boston,  1723. 


24  BEACON   OR   SENTRY   HILL. 

In  Shaw's  "  Topographical  and  Historical  Description  of 
Boston,"  the  following  streets  are  named  : 

"The  way  leading  from  Mr.  Whitcomb's  corner,  the  house  cf 
Capt.  Fairweather,  westerly  through  the  upper  side  of  the  Com- 
mon, and  so  down  to  the  sea,  Beacon  street." 

"  The  way  leading  from  Beacon  street,  on  the  upper  side  of 
the  Common,  unto  Mr.  Allen's  orchard,  Davies'  Lane." 

"  The  Avay  leading  from  Beacon  street,  between  Capt.  Alford's 
land  and  Madame  Shrimpton's  pasture,  up  to  Centrey  Hill, — 
Centrey  street."  Drake  says,  "  other  streets  have  been  called 
Centry  or  Century  street,  as  a  part  of  Sudbury,  part  of  Queen 
and  the  whole  of  Park  street." 

The  streets  represented  on  Bonner's  Map,  in  1722,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Beacon  Hill,  are  Centrey  (Park)  street,  Beacon 
street,  Davies'  Lane  and  George  street  ;  and  on  the  east  and 
northeast  at  the  base  of  Cotton  Hill,  Tremont  street  and  South- 
ack's  court. 

Hermon  Moll,  an  intelligent  geographer,  as  he  is  called,  in 
speaking  of  Boston,  in  1717,  says  it  "is  reckoned  the  biggest 
"  town  in  America,  except  some  which  belong  to  the  Spaniards. 
"  It  lies  on  the  coast,  defended  by  a  strong  Castle  in  an  island 
"at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  and  on  the  shore  by  forts  on  two 
"  or  three  neighboring  hills,  which  command  the  avenues."  At 
this  time  there  was  the  fortification  on  Fort  Hill  and  the  North 
and  South  batteries,  but  none  on  Beacon  Hill.  In  the  author- 
ity for  building  Long  Wharf,  the  end  was  to  be  left  free  for  the 
town  to  plant  guns  for  defence,  if  occasion  should  require,  but 
none  were  placed  there. 


CHAPTER  III. 


Topographical  features  of  the  City  —  Changes  since  1G30  — The  Great  Cove 
and  Oliver's  Dock  —  Filling  up  and  Improvement — Streets  filled  from 
Beacon  Hill  —  A  word  more  about  Blackstone's  residence  —  Sale  of  the 
Peninsula  —  Reserved  Estate,  including  West  Hill  —  Copley's  Residence 
and  his  hill  —  Sale  of  the  estate  —  Purchase  of  the  State  House  lot  —  The 
'•  sumptuous  city"  grown  from  its  hills. 

We  may  perceive  pretty  distinctly  from  what  has  been  said 
something  of  the  peculiar  topographical  features  of  the  penin- 
sula and  its  three  hills,  soon  after  its  settlement  by  the  company 
from  Charlestown.  It  was  in  fact  a  peninsula  and  (by  rea- 
son of  the  canal  from  the  Mill-pond  to  the  Cove,)  an  island, 
and  very  often  at  high  water,  when  the  tides  swept  across  the 
Neck,  which  they  did  more  or  less  frequently,  for  more  than  a 
hundred  and  seventy-five  years  after  Blackstone's  time,  it  was 
two  islands.  The  Three  Hills  were  the  landmarks,  as  well  as 
the  outlooks,  and  in  position  formed  very  nearly  a  triangle  —  as 
if  they  might  have  been  originally  a  group  of  islands. 

The  reader  may  find  it  difficult  to  realize  the  truthfulness  of 
the  sketch  purporting  to  represent  in  its  original  integrity,  the 
most  prominent  of  these  Three  Hills,  (the  tri-mountain  of  the 
period,)  as  seen  from  Charlestown,  in  1G30  ;    but  there  is  no 


26  SENTRY  OR  BEACON  HILL. 

reason  that  we  are  aware  of  to  discredit  its  general  correctness. 
It  is  now  two  hundred  and  forty  years  since  the  peninsula  was 
purchased  of  Mr.  Blackstone,  and  from  that  time  to  this,  every 
year  and  every  day,  its  topography  as  well  as  its  public 
buildings  and  private  residences,  has  been  undergoing  changes 
of  the  most  variable  and  extensive  character.  The  several  hills 
of  which,  we  have  spoken,  and  especially  the  tri-mountain,  have 
largely  contributed  to  these  obvious  changes,  some  of  them  com- 
paratively recent.  If  it  be  true  as  stated,  that  five-eighths  of 
the  city  proper  at  the  present  time  is  built  upon  made  land,  it  is 
certain  that  the  city  owes  much  more  to  its  three  hills  than  has 
generally  been  supposed. 

The  Great  Cove,  —  nearly  or  quite  as  large  as  the  Mill-pond 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  peninsula,  - —  extended  from  the  pre- 
sent Lewis's  wharf  to  Rowe's  wharf,  and  reached  inside  of  the 
present  North  street,  Merchants'  Row  and  Kilby  street  to  Fed- 
eral and  Battery-march  streets.  On  its  north  side  a  creek 
came  in  from  the  North  Cove,  afterwards  the  Mill-pond,  and  this 
creek  when  widened  and  Availed  up,  formed  what  was  thereafter 
the  Canal.  This  was  on  the  line  of  Blackstone  street.  The 
Maine  railroad  depot  stands  directly  over  the  old  canal  and  the 
track  follows  it  to  Charles  river.  There  were  two  ether  creeks, 
or  branches,  that  came  into  Great  Cove  :  one  from  Franklin 
street  and  the  other  from  Spring  lane,  coming  together  in  Lib- 
erty square,  besides  the  docks. 

"  An  aged  gentleman,  who  lived  near  the  spot,  says  that 
when  the  foundation  of  Joy's  building  was  preparing,  the  re- 
mains of  the  hull  of  an  old  vessel,  or  large  boat,  with  fragments 
of  canvas  and  tarred  rope,  were  dug  up,  which  shews  that  the 
place  had  been  once  used  for  a  graving  vard,  or  some  similar 


.  *VTON  COLLEGE  LIUKAKY 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MASS. 

SENTRY    OK    BEACON    HILL.  27 

purpose."  "  On  the  spot  now  covered  by  Joy's  building  stood 
a  shop  improved  by  one  Kent,  a  tanner.  His  tan  yard  was  in 
the  rear,  and  in  front  was  a  wharf  for  the  accommodation  of  his 
small  vessels."     This  was  Oliver's  dock. 

In  the  creek  which  extended  towards  Federal  street,  smelts 
were  caught  near  the  meeting  house  ;  and  an  old  inhabitant 
once  stated  that  he  had  seen  the  water  there  three  feet  deep. 
A  greater  part  of  Congress  street,  the  whole  of  Kilby  street, 
and  Liberty  square,  part  of  Water  and  Milk  streets  and  Federal 
street,  were  built  on  flats  originally  covered  with  salt  water. 
Boats  sailed  from  the  South  Battery  to  the  rise  of  land  in 
King  street,  (State  street.) 

This  Great  Cove,  which  comprises  so  large  a  section  of 
the  commercial  part  of  the  city, —  including  land  worth  almost 
as  much  per  foot  as  Blackstone  received  for  the  whole  peninsu- 
la,—  is  now  worth  many  millions  of  dollars,  and  is  covered  with 
as  fine  a  class  of  buildings,  public  and  private,  as  can  be  found 
in  any  other  city  in  the  country.  The  inner  portions  of  the 
Cove  were  filled  at  a  very  early  period,  probably  with  gravel 
taken  from  the  northerly  spurs  of  Beacon  Hill,  long  before 
the  building  of  Charles  street  from  West  Hill,  or  the  filling  up 
of  the  Mill-pond.  It  could  have  come  from  no  other  place  : 
Copp's  Hill  could  not  supply  it,  and  it  is  pretty  certain,  we 
think,  that  no  portion  of  it  was  taken  from  Fort  Hill,  whereon 
was  the  principal  defence  of  the  harbor. 

If  we  are  right  in  this  conclusion,  then  State  street,  Water 
street,  Congress  street,  Liberty  Square,  Broad  street  and  part 
of  Federal  street,  are  composed  of  material  from  Beacon  Hill, 
as  on  the  other  side  of  the  town  are  Charles  street,  part  of 
Leverett  street,  Lowell  street,  Causeway  street  and  the  whole 


28  SENTRY  OR  BEACON  HILL. 

area  of  the  Mill-pond.  So  that  we  find  the  material  of  Beacon 
Hill  spread  over  a  very  large  portion  of  the  business  part  of 
the  present  city,  forming  tlje  substratum  of  the  streets  on  its 
westerly,  northerly  and  easterly  sides. 

One  word  more  concerning  Blackstone,  his  residence  and  the 
sale  of  the  peninsula  by  him  —  all  points  of  great  interest  in 
the  early  history  of  the  town.  There  does  not  appear  to  be 
any  reason  to  doubt  the  correctness  of  the  conclusions  of  Dr. 
Shurtleff  in  regard  to  his  residence,  as  already  quoted.  Black-  . 
stone  would  not  build  his  cottage  or  lay  out  such  grounds  as  he 
had,  at  any  season  of  the  year,  in  such  an  exposed  location  as 
Barton's  Point,  but  rather  as  has  been  said,  "chose  the  sunny 
southwest  slope  of  Beacon  Hill  for  his  residence;"  and  although 
Cotton  and  Vane  may  have  located  themselves  on  the  northerly 
spur  of  the  same  hill,  near  to  the  settlement,  at  the  time  of 
their  coming,  it  probably  is  true  that  the  first  white  inhabi- 
tant of  what  is  now  the  city  of  Boston,  had  the  good  sense  to 
pitch  his  tent  upon  its  southerly  slope,  where  he  planted  the 
first  orchard  on  the  continent.  There  is  no  memorial  to  mark 
the  place  of  his  residence,  —  such  as  might  easily  be  accom- 
plished by  an  exchange  of  the  names  of  Louisburg  and  Black- 
stone  Squares,  —  yet  the  name  is  preserved  to  the  city,  more  or 
less  appropriately,  in  Blackstone  Street,  Blackstone  Bank,  &c. 

It  seems  to  be  very  well  understood,  notwithstanding  any  dis- 
crepancies in  the  statements,  that  when  Blackstone  parted  with 
his  interest  in  the  peninsula,  whatever  that  interest  was,  he  re- 
served six  acres  for  his  own  use  and  improvement.  It  appears 
by  the  records  and  deeds  that  the  inhabitants  "did  agree  with 
Mr.  Blackstone  for  the  purchase  of  his  estate  and  right  in  any 
lands  lying  within  the  said  Neck,  called  Boston."  in  1634,  as- 


SENTRY  OH  BEACON  HILL.  29 

sessing  each  householder  six  shillings,  "  none  paying  less,  some 
considerably  more,"  for  £30,  he  "reserving  only  about  six 
acres  on  the  point  commonly  called  Blackstone's  Point,  in  part 
whereof  his  dwelling  house  stood." 

These  six  acres  certainly  included  West  Hill,  as  it  was  then 
called ;  his  garden,  orchard  and  spring.  The  estate  thus  consti- 
tuted, extended  on  its  westerly  side  to  Charles  River,  where 
Charles  street  was  built,  and  between  Cambridge  Bridge  and 
the  Milldam  was  Blackstone's  Point.  This  estate,  many  years 
afterwards,  fell  into  the  possession  of  Copley  the  painter,  and 
his  house  at  that  time  was  on  Beacon  street,  and  the  hill  was 
called  Copley's  Hill,  and  since  Mount  Vernon.  Copley,  it 
seems,  contracted  to  sell  the  estate  when  he  went  to  England, 
and  afterwards,  finding  that  he  had  agreed  upon  too  low  a  price, 
sent  his  son,  Lord  Lyndhurst,  to  this  country  with  a  view  of 
voiding  the  contract,  on  the  ground  that  he  had  been  misinform- 
ed, (probably  uninformed),  in  regard  to  the  improvements 
(erection  of  the  new  State  House,  &c.)  which  were  soon  to  be 
made  in  the  neighborhood,  which  would  greatly  increase  the 
value  of  the  property  ;  but  of  course  the  scheme  failed,  and  in 
1796,  Lord  Lyndhurst  executed  a  deed  of  the  property  to  Har- 
rison Gray  Otis,  who  built  his  house  upon  a  part  of  it,  and 
Jonathan  Mason.  The  year  previous  to  the  execution  of  this 
deed,  in  1795,  the  town  purchased  of  Gov.  Hancock's  heirs, 
the  land  for  the  State  House,  just  below  the  summit  of  the  hill. 
This  land  was  afterwards  conveyed  to  the  Commonwealth,  on 
certain  conditions  which  have  probably  been  complied  with  in 
the  erection  of  the  edifice  which  now  so  beautifully  and  appro- 
priately crowns  this  famous  hill. 


30  SENTRY  OR  BEACON  HILL. 

What  Capt.  Johnson,  in  his  "  Wonder-working  Providence," 
said  of  the  peninsula,  in  1650,  —  "whose  continuall  inlarge- 
ment  presages  some  sumptuous  city,"  — has  been  realized  ;  and 
the  changes  must  have  commenced  very  soon  after  the  settle- 
ment of  the  town,  since  at  the  end  of  twenty  years,  Johnson  ex- 
pressed his  surprise  :  "  behold  the  admirable  acts  of  Christ :  at 
his  people's  landing  the  hideous  thickets  in  this  place  were  such 
that  wolfes  and  beares  nurst  up  their  young  from  the  eyes  of  all 
beholders,  where  [now]  the  streets  are  full  of  girls  and  boys 
sporting  up  and  down  with  a  continuous  concourse  of  people." 
The  sumptuous  city  which  he  so  distinctly  foresaw,  —  except- 
ing its  more  recent  enlargement  on  the  South  Cove  and  Charles 
River,  —  may  almost  be  said  to  have  been  made  from  its  three 
prominent  and  historic  hills,  chiefly  from  its  tri-mountain. 


THE    BEACON    AND    ITS    USE 


CHAPTER    IV. 


The  Beacon  —  Order  for  its  erection  —  What  a  History  it  witnessed  ! — Was 
it  ever  used?  —  Apprehension  of  Danger  —  The  Pequod  War  —  The  In- 
dians around  Boston  —  False  Alarm  —  Drilling  the  Soldiers  —  Scaring 
them  —  Opportune  arrival  —  First  Thanksgiving. 


Although  never  improved  by 
the  colonists  as  a  position  or  point 
of  defence,  as  was  Fort  Hill,  which 
directly  commanded  the  harbor, 
as  early  as  1632-3,  Beacon  Hill 
was  used  as  a  post  of  observation 
or  look-out,  and  in  1635,  the  cel- 
ebrated Beacon,  from  which  it  de- 
rives its  name,  was  erected,  under 
an  order  of  the  General  Court  of 
the  Colony,  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1634-5,  as  follows  : 

"  It  is  ordered,  that  there  shalbe 
forth  with  a  beacon  sett  on  the 
centry  hill  at  Boston,  to  give  no- 
tice to  the  country  of  any  danger, 
&  that  there  shalbe  a  ward  of  one 
pson  kept  there  from  the  first  of  April  to  the  last  of  Septr.,  & 


32  THE    BEACON    AND    ITS    USE. 

that  upon  the  discov'y  of  any  danger,  the  beacon  shalbe  fired, 
an  allarum  given,  as  also  messengers  presently  sent  by  that 
towne  where  the  danger  is  discov'ed,  to  all  other  townes  within 
their  jurisdiccon." 

This  is  distinctly  the  origin  and  purpose  of  the  beacon ;  but 
how  such  an  arrangement  was  expected  to  work,  either  by  day 
or  night,  or  how  messengers  were  to  be  sent,  we  are  unable  to 
explain.  The  descriptions  and  representations  of  this  famous 
beacon  differ  somewhat  in  their  minor  particulars.  It  was  a  tall 
pole  or  mast,  not  surmounted  by  a  barrel,  as  has  been  repre- 
sented, but  there  was  projecting  from  one  side  of  it  an  iron 
crane  supporting  an  iron  pot.  The  mast  was  placed  on  cross- 
timbers  with  a  stone  foundation,  was  supported  by  braces  and 
provided  with  cross  sticks  serving  the  purpose  of  a  ladder  for  as- 
cending to  the  crane.  The  hook,  or  half-crescent,  ajfc  top  in  the 
engraving,  like  the  tar  barrel,  is  a  modern  addition. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  this  beacon,  if  the  recorded  dates 
concerning  it  are  correct,  remained  —  with  the  exception  perhaps 
of  a  single  year,  (1775-6),  when  the  hill  was  fortified  by  Gen. 
Howe,  —  for  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  ;  after  which 
at  the  conclusion  of  the  revolutionary  war,  its  place  was  occu- 
pied by  the  beautiful  Doric  column,  erected  in  1790,  to  com- 
memorate both  the  events  and  the  result  of  the  American  Rev- 
olution. What  a  history  it  witnessed  !  Of  course  it  had  to  be 
renewed  occasionally,  but  we  have  found  no  record  of  its  ever 
having  been  used  for  the  purpose  intended ;  and  notwithstanding 
the  somewhat  poetical  expressions  about  illuminating  the  skies 
and  throwing  its  warning  light  over  the  country,  used  oratori- 
cally,  we  very  much  doubt  if  there  ever  was  a  spark  of  fire 


TIIK    BEACON    AND    IT3    [L3J3.  33 

in  its  iron  pot.  If  there  ever  had  been  it  would  doubtless  have 
found  mention  somewhere.  It  may,  therefore,  be  considered  a 
little  doubtful  if  the  Beacon  was  kept  up  and  renewed,  as  stated, 
for  so  long  a  period  without  interruption. 

The  apprehensions  of  danger  from  the  Indians  at  this  time, 
from  what  had  occurred  elsewhere,  was  natural  enough  but  was 
probably  greater  than  was  authorized  by  the  existing  relations 
of  the  parties,  which  were  amicably  commenced  and  had  been 
peaceably  continued.  Several  murders  which  occurred  prior  to 
the  breaking  out  of  the  Pequod  war,  in  1636,  and  alarmed  the 
English  settlers,  hardly  disturbed  the  colonists  '  at  Boston, 
and  it  seems  doubtful  if  any  necessity  arose  for  alarming  the  ad- 
jacent country  on  their  account.  There  is  no  record  of  any 
trouble  with  the  Indians  about  Boston,  either  at  this  time  or 
later.  They  were  altogether  friendly  from  first  to  last,  and  it 
is  quite  likely  that  the  settlers  annoyed  the  Indians  as  much 
as  the  Indians  did  the  settlers,  perhaps  more.  As  early  as  1632, 
it  was  said  "  less  is  heard  of  annoyance  from  the  many  Indians 
which  must  have  visited  Boston,  probably  every  day,  than  could 
reasonably  have  been  expected,  when  it  is  considered  that  they 
could  not  have  had  any  adequate  idea  of  the  white  people's 
laws  and  their  rules  of  propriety  in  intercourse."  When  they 
committed  offences  they  were  punished,  and  in  one  instance  at 
least  Chickatawbet  was  made  to  beat  some  of  his  own  men  while 
they  were  in  the  bilboes.  In  the  same  year  the  Indians  com- 
plained that  their  crops  were  injured  by  the  domestic  animals 
belonging  to  the  English,  the  planting  grounds  not  being  fenced 
in.  Some  kind  of  compensation  was  given  and  the  court  made 
John  Sagamore  agree  that  the  next  year  he  would  fence  his 
grounds.     In  1640,  Josias  Plastow  was  brought  before  the  court 


34  THE    BEACON    AND    ITS    USE. 

for  stealing  four  baskets  of  corn  from  the  Indians,  and  he  was 
thereupon  "ordered  to  return  eight  baskets,  to  be  fined  X5  and 
to  be  called  Josias  and  not  Mr.  Josias  as  heretofore."  Previous 
to  this  exemplary  proceeding,  in  1637,  Mr.  Drake  says,  "while 
the  whole  of  New  England  was  distracted  by  war  with  the  In- 
dians, Boston  was  more  distracted,  if  possible,  with  religious 
dissensions,  in  which  parents  were  set  against  children,  children 
against  parents,  brother  against  brother,  as  is  always  the  case, 
in  religious  as  well  as  political  controversies."  "Danger  from 
the  Indians"  was  also  considered  as  pending  at  this  time  :  in 
fact  it  may  be  said  to  have  been  pending  all  the  time,  while  the 
Indians  remained  in  the  neighborhood,  although  there  was  very 
little  reason  to  fear  any  irruption  or  outbreak. 

The  Indians  around  Boston  were  of  small  account  either  as 
friends  or  enemies,  in  point  of  fact,  although,  had  they  been 
so  disposed  and  united  in  purpose,  they  might  have  done  the 
settlers  much  harm.  Their  haunts  were  more  in  the  interior  of 
the  country,  and  their  residence  near  the  salt  water  rather  occa- 
sional than  permanent.  They  do  not  appear  to  have  had  any 
idea  of  attempting  to  expel  the  settlers,  either  those  of  Boston 
or  those  of  Charlestown,  or  of  making  war  upon  them.  — 
The  rumors  of  great  gatherings  at  Muddy  Brook,  (Brookline) 
were  only  a  scare,  and  fortunately  it  was  so,  for  when  Captain 
Underhill,  the  military  genius  of  the  time,  caused  an  alarm  to 
be  given  to  try  the  courage  of  his  soldiers,  who  had  been  or- 
dered out  and  drilled  in  the  night  to  meet  the  emergency,  "  most 
of  them  were  paralyzed  with  fear  and  their  conduct  was  dis- 
graceful to  soldiers."  This  matter  rather  increased  the  fear 
of  the  Indians  and  the  interest  in  the  Beacon,  and  the  Governor 
gent  for  "  the  three  next  Sagamores  to  come  to  Boston  immedi- 


THE   BEACON   AND     ITS    USE.  35 

ately" ;  but  before  they  came  the  expected  ship  Lyon  arrived, 
with  provisions  and  settlers,  and  the  first  Thanksgiving  was 
held  in  the  colony.  The  supposed  Indian  dangers  were  forgot- 
ten :  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  Indians  were  deterred 
from  further  proceedings  by  the  opportune  coming  of  the  ship, 
together  with  a  knowledge  of  the  military  movement,  which,  if 
it  impressed  the  natives,  served  rather  to  disgust  the  colo- 
nists. Still,  in  the  possibility  of  things  and  of  events  occurring 
elsewhere,  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  be  on  the  lookout  for 
whatever  might  happen,  or  whatever  might  come  out  of  the  un- 
explored regions  of  the  forest.  To  be  forewarned  was  to  be  fore- 
armed, and  the  Beacon  was  therefore  kept  up.  But  if  in  all 
these  years  there  had  been  little  occasion  for  alarm,  or  for  the 
use  of  the  Beacon  and  the  guardianship  of  the  ward,  as  between 
the  colonists  and  the  natives,  it  was  not  dreamed  that  there 
ever  would  be  occasion  for  their  use  to  warn  the  people  of  the 
approach  of   any  danger  from   the  mother  country. 

In  an  old  engraving  of  the  town,  in  which  is  represented  the 
First  Episcopal  Church,  (King's  Chapel,)  in  1720,  the  upper 
portion  of  Beacon  Hill,  with  its  lofty  beacon  pole,  is  includ- 
ed, and  up  to  this  time  it  is  said  to  have  preserved  very  nearly 
its  primitive  appearance,  and  did  so  for  many  years  afterwards, 
so  far  as  the  summit  was  concerned.  For  more  than  a  hundred 
years  from  the  settlement  of  the  city,  the  hill  had  remained 
almost  intact,  excepting  its  spurs.  In  1764,  it  is  said,  "Bea- 
con Hill  had  probably  suffered  very  little  diminution  in  height." 
Probably  not  any,  as  its  sunmit,  —  mostly  included  in  the 
first  reservation  of  six  rods  square,  —  continued  in  its  original 
form  as  long  as  the  monument,  erected  in  1790,  remained  upon 
it,  and   in  fact  until  Temple  street  was  extended  over  it  in  the 


86  THE    BEACON    AND    ITS    USE. 

summer  of  1831.  But  its  spurs  on  the  northerly  and  westerly 
sides,  had  been  dug  away  to  a  very  great  depth,  leaving  steep 
and  lofty  banks,  at  the  head  of  Temple  street,  and  on  Mt.  Ver- 
non and  Hancock  streets,  as  well  as  around  West  Hill. 

In  1733,  on  the  16th  of  October,  a  committee  of  the  board 
of  Selectmen,  consisting  of  David  Colson,  Joshua  Winslow  and 
William  Dowe,  was  appointed  "to  see  that  Captain  Cyprian 
Shattuck  secure  his  hill  near  Valley  Acre  by  rails,  or  other- 
wise the  people  may  be  in  danger."  Drake  says  "  Valley  Acre, 
as  appears  from  an  early  map  of  the  town,  was  adjacent  to  a 
spur  of  Beacon  Hill,  which  extended  northeasterly  from  the 
main  hill,  terminating  abruptly  not  far  from  the  present  north- 
ern termination  of  the  iron  fence  in  Pemberton  Square."  This 
digging  was  a  hundred  years  after  the  settlement,  and  the  gravel 
was  no  doubt  used  to  fill  up  around  the  docks. 

Valley  Acre  was  south  of  Howard  street  and  near  Hanover. 
The  slope  down  what  is  now  Tremont  Row  terminated  in  later 
\ears  opposite  the  head  of  Hanover  street,  at  the  end  of  a  brick 
wall  which  separated  it  from  Court  street.  The  space  between  the 
streets  was  wedge-shaped,  with  Scollay's  building  at  the  widest 
end,  the  brick  wall  running  to  a  point.  The  first  story  of  Scol- 
lay's building  was  entered  from  Court  street,  and  the  second 
from  Tremont  Row.  The  hill  sloped  as  it  does  now  down  Sud- 
bury, Hanover  and  Brattle  streets,  extending  in  one  direction  to 
Dock  Square.  Towards  the  point  of  the  wedge,  there  were  sev- 
eral shallow  stores  on  Court  street,  built  against  the  brick  wall, . 
one  of  which  was  occupied  by  "Bob  New,"  a  well-known  bar- 
ber of  that  day.  On  the  sidewalk  of  Tremont  Row,  which  was 
nearly  the  height  of  the  wall  above  Court  street,  crowds  of  people 


THE   BEACON    AND   ITS    USE.  37 

used  to  stand  to  watch  the  dancing  in  Concert  ITall,  when  that 
was  the  fashionable  hall  of  the  town. 

As  early  as  1764,  "  the  people  of  the  town  appear  to  have 
looked  upon  it  [Beacon  Hill]  as  among  the  natural  objects  to 
be  preserved  and  transmitted  unimpaired  to  other  ages.  But 
there  was  a  certain  owner  of  a  small  tract  of  land  on  the  north 
side  of  the  hill,  who  having  a  right,  as  he  believed,  to  dig  up 
his  ground  to  any  extent  he  pleased,  in  prosecution  of  that  right 
had  jeopardized  the  very  existence  of  this  famous  eminence. 
The  individual  in  question  was  named  Thomas  Hodson.  He 
was  reasoned  with  by  the  Selectmen,  but  they  could  not  succeed 
in  dissuading  him  from  persisting  in  digging  gravel  on  his  lot, 
to  the  general  damage  of  the  town  and  the  particular  damage  of 
Beacon  Hill.  (May  15.)  The  subject  was  therefore  brought 
up  in  Town  meeting  and  a  committee  was  raised  to  take  Thomas 
Hodson  and  his  digging  gravel  into  consideration.  Accordingly 
Thomas  Hancock,  William  Phillips,  Joseph  Sherburne,  Joshua 
Henshaw  and  James  Otis,  Esquires,  were  appointed  (May  24), 
to  serve  as  such  committee.  They  accepted  the  appointment 
and  a  few  days  after  reported  that  the  said  Thomas  Hodson 
would  dig  gravel  on  his  lot,  and  had  dug  to  that  extent  that  the 
said  hill  was  in  danger  of  being  destroyed,  and  that  there  was 
no  prospect  of  the  town  being  able  to  buy  him  off.  That  is  to 
say,  he  would  not  sell  his  land  to  the  town.  That  they  saw  no 
way  to  prevent  the  destruction  of  Beacon  Hill  without  the  in- 
terposition of  the  General  Court.  It  was  therefore  voted  that 
the  representatives  should  be  instructed  to  move  in  the  legisla- 
ture for  an  act  by  which  this  and  similar  mischiefs  might  be 
prevented.  No  law,  however,  appears  to  have  been  passed  con- 
cerning it." 


38  THE     BEACON    AND     ITS    USE. 

Hodson  continued  to  dig  gravel  and  fill  up  the  docks,  and 
probably  never  would  have  been  heard  of  at  the  present  time 
but  for  his  persistency  in  this  matter,  by  which  he  got  his  name 
into  history,  and  may  now  be  regarded  as  a  pioneer  in  public 
improvements  and  possibly  as  a  benefactor  of  the  city. 

There  had  been  other  digging  about  the  hill  and  its  outlying 
spurs,  long  before  this  time  ;  and  no  doubt  more  or  less  of  it  at 
an  earlier  period  than  any  recorded.  The  gravel  was  first  used 
for  those  wharves  and  docks,  which  were  contiguous  to  the  shops 
and  houses,  as  the  first  settlement  of  the  town  was  in  a  circle 
around  the  cove.  So  true  was  this  circle  that  in  the  "Mod- 
ern Universal  Gazetteer,"  published  in  London,  in  1796,  Bos- 
ton was  described  as  "  situated  on  a  peninsula  at  the  bottom  of 
a  fine  bay,  &c,  and  lies  in  the  form  of  a  crescent  about  the 
harbor,  and  the  country  beyond  rising  gradually,  affords  de- 
lightful prospects  from  the  sea."  The  settlement  was  strictly 
between  Fort  Hill  and  Copp's  Hill,  and  as  it  was  built  out  in 
front,  it  was  as  gradually  built  up  in  the  rear.  Gravel  was, 
in  fact,  the  first  necessity  of  the  settlement,  as  it  has  been 
the  last  of  the  city  :  Beacon  Hill  met  the  first  as  Fort  Hill, 
Needham  and  Canton  have  the  last. 


DEFENCES    OF    THE    SETTLEMENT 


CHAPTER  V. 


Defences  around  the  settlement  —  Practical  Ideas  of  the  times  —  Dogmatic 
Religion  —  Persecutions  —  Charles  II.  commanding  Liberty  of  Conscience 
—  Great  Fire  in  1679  —  Cost  of  Defences  —  Indian  Visitors  entertained  by 
the  Governor  —  The  Beacon  and  Fortifications  across  the  Neck  —  Civil 
War  in  England  —  Capture  of  a  ship  in  Boston  harbor  —  The  Light 
House,  the  Castle  and  the  System  of  Signals  —  General  peacefulness  of 
the  settlement  —  Defences  turned  against  those  who  built  them. 

It  is  very  evident  that  in  a  few  years  after  the  people  remov- 
ed from  Charlestown  to  Boston,  they  became  concerned  about 
their  safety  from  the  Indians,  although  they  had  been  welcomed 
by  John  Sagamore  and  lived  peaceably  with  his  tribe,  as  did 
those  who  remained  among  them.  The  means  of  alarm  and  de- 
fence which  they  prepared  in  order  to  meet  any  emergency  that 
might  arise,  were  quite  remarkable  for  the  times,  both  in  extent  ■ 
and  character ;  and  they  were  mainly  designed  for  protection 
against  the  savages,  however  little,  as  we  have  seen,  they  seem 
to  have  been  needed.  They  were  of  such  prominence  that  for- 
eigners who  visited  the  early  settlement  or  the  prosperous  town, 
and  residents  who  had  occasion  to  write  about  it,  never  failed  to 
mention  them  :  the  Fort,  afterwards  the  Batteries,  the  monitory 
Beacon,  and  later  the  Castle.  These  were  always  spoken  of 
and  commended,  and  became  widely  known.  They  were  un- 
doubtedly considered  as  not  only  affording  protection  to  the  col- 


40  DEFENCES    OF   THE    SETTLEMENT. 

onists,  but  also  as  offering  an  inducement  to  others  to  settle 
among  them  and  share  the  immunity  which  they  afforded. 

Besides  this  the  colony  was  prosperous  :  the  two  practical 
ideas  of  the  people  ware  business  and  protection,  and  they  had 
both  ;  the  sentiment  was  dogmatic  religion,  and  this  they  had 
superlatively,  with  rigid  abhorrence  of  episcopalians,  anabaptists 
and  quakers.  The  episcopalians  were  denounced,  the  anabap- 
tists fined,  persecuted,  banished,  and  the  quakers  still  more  se- 
verely used  and  some  of  them  hung.  After  Charles  II.  was 
proclaimed,  he  upheld  the  episcopalians  as  far  as  he  was  able 
and  at  a  later  psriod  (1679)  wrote  to  the  authorities  of  Boston 
commanding  them  not  to  molest  people  of  the  Protestant  faith 
in  their  worship  and  directing  liberty  of  conscience.  This  is 
certainly  a  very  notable  incident  in  history  :  fifty  years  after  the 
settlement  at  Salem,  the  King  of  England  found  it  necessary 
in  the  cause  of  religion  to  command  liberty  to  worship  God 
in  their  own  way  to  all  protestants  in  the  colony.  The  year 
before  this  the  legislature  had  passed  a  law  against  the  erection 
of  meeting  houses,  intended  as  a  warning  to  the  anabaptists  and 
quakers.  But  it  turned  out  that  the  law  was  a  little  behind  the 
times.  A  great  fire  in  the  same  year,  as  Cotton  Mather  after- 
wards said  of  it  had  given  Boston  to  read  the  vanity  of  all 
earthly  possessions  in  fiery  characters.  The  quakers  managed 
to  hold  secret  meetings  ;  and  a  gentleman  who  built  a  private 
house,  soon  sold  it  to  the  Baptists.  This  was  their  "First 
Church"  and  today  its  representative  stands  on  Beacon  Hill,  the 
most  elevated  location  and  the  highest  spire  in  the  city. 

The  defences  of  which  we  have  spoken  required  some  extra- 
ordinary expenses  of  the  colony,  and  these  were  sometimes  trou- 
blesome, though  generally  met  by  the  legislature  or  the  towns. 


DEFENCES   OP   THE   SETTLEMENT.  41 

They  were  occasionally  repaired  and  enlarged,  it  is  presumed, 
and  implements  renewed  or  supplied  whenever  it  was  thought 
there  might  be  occasion  for  their  use.  In  1657,  Drake  says 
"it  behoved  the  people  of  Boston  to  look  to  the  defences  of 
the  town,"  in  which  we  presume  he  copies  some  old  record 
which  indicates  no  reason  for  the  remark  —  unless  they  were  to 
be  used  in  the  religious  controversies,  when  whipping  and  hang- 
ing were  in  vogue.     There  was  not  much  other  use  for  them. 

The  Fort  at  the  Castle  was  commenced  in  1634,  and  it  was 
subsequently  ordered  that  ' '  ordnance  [be]  mounted  &  eury 
other  thinge  aboute  it  finished  before  anv  other  ffortificacon  be 
proceeded  in."  The  fort  fell  into  decay  and  was  neglected  by 
some  of  the  towns,  "although  their  safety  (under  God)  was 
much  involved  in  the  constant  repair  and  management  thereof." 
The  "next  six  towns"  rebuilt  it.  It  cost  "  about  four  thous- 
and pounds,"  and  a  "  captain  was  ordained,"  with  soldiers,  and 
"yet  are  not  this  poor  pilgrim  people  weary  of  maintaining  it 
in  good  repair  ;  it  is  of  very  good  use  to  awe  away  insolent  per- 
sons, putting  confidence  in  their  ships  and  sails,  *  *  *  and 
they  have  certain .  signals  of  alarums  which  suddenly  spread 
through  the  whole  country."  Roger  Clap,  who  had  command 
at  the  fort  from  1665  to  1686,  says  "  all  the  time  of  our  weak- 
ness, God  was  pleased  to  give  us  peace,"  and  in  years  after,  to 
1672,  when  the  Dutch  were  expected  to  attack  the  town,  "God 
was  pleased  to  keep  this  place  in  safety." 

The  earliest  defences  across  the  Neck  were  a  line  of  palisades ; 
after  these  a  brick  fortification  with  embrasures,  cannon  and  a 
ditch ;  regular  watches  were  kept,  and  the  town  was  felt  to  be 
perfectly  secure.  These,  however,  fell  into  disuse  and  decay, 
and  in  1710,  no  longer  needed  against  the  Indians,  new  fortifi- 


42  DEFENCES   OF   THE    SETTLEMENT. 

cations  were  erected,  just  south  of  the  present  Dover  street,  but 
like  those  which  preceded  them,  were  unused  and  finally  fell 
into  the  hands  of  Gen.  Gage  and  his  military  successor. 

As  for  the  Indians  during  all  these  years,  they  were  frequent 
visitors  at  Boston,  and  sometimes  dined  with  the  Governor,  and 
received  presents  from  him ;  and  this  continued  during  all  the 
years  of  the  settlement.  So  that  their  coming  would  not  he 
likely  to  be  announced  by  firing  the  Beacon. 

In  May.  1644,  during  the  civil  war  m  England,  a  parlia- 
ment ship  of  war,  Capt.  Stagg,  came  into  port,  without  any  sig- 
nalling from  the  Beacon,  and  finding  a  Bristol  ship  here,  com- 
pelled her  to  surrender,  much  to  the  amazement  of  the  people, 
who  failed  to  see  the  right  of  anybody  to  do  such  an  act  of  war 
in  their  harbor.*  The  legislature  demanded  of  Capt.  Stagg  his 
authority  and  he  shew  a  commission  from  the  Earl  of  Warwick, 
but  as  "  parliament  was  of  their  own  religion,"  they  thought  it 
best  not  to  interfere.  They  did,  however,  pass  a  law  authoriz- 
ing Major  Gibbons  of  Boston,  and  Major  Sedgwick  of  Charles- 
town,  "not  to  permit  any  ships  to  fight  in  the  harbor  without 
license  from  authority."  Thus  ignoring  a  parliament-commis- 
sion for  the  future. 

The  first  Light-house,  it  would  seem, —  which,  it  is  to  be  pre- 
sumed, was  erected  in  the  interests  of  commerce, —  was  connected 
with  the  system  of  defence  which  was  so  prominent  around  the 
town.  In  July  1715,  at  the  session  of  the  General  Court  a  law 
was  passed  "  that  there  be  a  Light-house  erected  at  the  charge 
of  the  Province  at  the  northernmost  point  of  the  Great  Brews- 


*The  city  of  Bristol,  about  a  year  before  this  time  having  surrendered  to 
the  Royalists,  the  ships  belonging  to  that  city  were  adjudged  prizes  to  the 
ships  of  the  Parliament,  -wherever  they  might  be  met  with. 


DEFENCES  OP   THE   SETTLEMENT.  43 

ter,  called  Baacon  Island,  to  be  lighted  from  sunset  until  sun- 
rising." 

In  1719,  Daniel  Neal  wrote  an  account  and  description  of 
Boston,  which  was  printed  in  England.  After  describing  the 
fortifications  at  Castle  Island,  he  proceeds  as  follows  : 

"  But  to  prevent  any  possible  surprise  from  an  Enemy,  there 
is  a  Light-house,  built  on  a  Rock,  appearing  above  Water,  about 
two  long  Leagues  from  the  Town,  which  in  Time  of  War,  makes 
a  signal  to  the  Castle,  and  the  Castle  to  the  Town,  by  hoisting 
and  lowering  the  Union  Flag,  so  many  Times  as  there  are  Ships 
approaching,  which, if  they  exceed  a  certain  Number,  the  Castle 
fires  three  Guns  to  alarm  the  Town  of  Boston,  and  the  Gover- 
nor, if  need  be,  orders  a  Beacon  to  be  fired,  which  alarms  all 
the  adjacent  Countrey." 

Lieut.  Gov.  Dummer,  in  his  "Defence of  the  New  England 
Charters,"  gives  a  description  of  the  "beautiful  Castle"  at  the 
entrance  of  the  harbor,  which  he  says,  "is  by  far  the  finest 
specimen  of  military  architecture  in  the  British  America.  It 
was  built  by  Colonel  Romer,  a  famous  German  engineer,  at  the 
Countries'  expense,  and  is  called  Castle  William."  "  There  is 
an  independent  company  of  60  or  100  men,  I  am  not  certain 
which,  that  constantly  are  on  duty  ;  but  in  time  of  war,  500 
able  bodied  men  are  exempted  from  all  other  military  duty,  to 
attend  the  Service  of  the  Castle  at  an  hour's  warning  upon  any 
signal  given  to  the  Castle  of  the  Appearance  of  any  ships  and 
their  number.  The  Castle  again  warns  the  town,  and  if  there 
be  five  ships  or  more  in  time  of  war,  an  alarm  is  given  to  all 
the  adjacent  countries  by  firing  a  beacon." 

It  is  pretty  safe  to  say,  we  think,  that,  however  efficient  the 
arrangements,  nothing  of  this  sort  was  ever  done. 


44  DEFENCES    OF   THE    SETTLEMENT. 

Whatever  may  now  be  thought  of  these  things,  it  is  histori- 
cally true  that  the  settlement  and  the  town,  up  to  the  period  of 
the  commencement  of  the  revolutionary  war,  were  remarkably 
preserved  from  any  warlike  demonstrations,  save  those  already 
mentioned,  within  their  borders.  The  Indians  were  invariably  on 
friendly  terms,  rather  seeking  friendship  and  favor  than  desiring 
war,  and  Ave  know  of  no  such  thing  as  an  Indian  skirmish  or 
fight  of  any  kind,  between  them  and  the  settlers  in  more  than 
a  hundred  years,  nor  of  any  occasion  for  the  use  of  the  means 
of  alarm  and  defence  on  their  account.  It  is  probable  that 
this  exemption  from  attack  and  the  perils  of  war,  was  in  a 
great  measure  due  to  this  preparation  and  constant  watchfulness, 
and  in  this  sense  they  were  very  beneficial  to  the  prosperity  of 
the  colony,  showing  again  that  preparations,  if  they  do  not  al- 
ways prevent,  tend  to  the  discouragement  of  warfare.  It  is, 
therefore,  a  resulting  fact  that  the  works  we  have  mentioned : 
the  Beacon,  the  Fort,  the  North  and  South  Batteries,  the 
Fortifications  across  the  Neck,  and  the  Castle,  when  brought 
into  actual  use  in  warfare,  were  all  turned  against  the  people 
who  built  and  had  maintained  them  for  centuries. 

Our  conclusions  upon  the  whole  matter  are  that  the  settlement 
at  Boston  was  wonderfully  exempted  from  disturbances  and 
annoyances  of  every  kind  ;  that  such  as  seemed  likely  to  happen 
were  prevented,  avoided  or  miscarried  in  some  way  ;  that  all  the 
measures  of  defence  and  system  of  alarms,  though  not  such  as 
would  now  be  considered  of  much  account,  were  almost  wholly 
uncalled  for,  excepting  as  preventive  measures,  and  from  the 
Beacon  to  the  Light  house,  were  rarely,  if  ever,  used  either  for 
alarm  or  defence.  One  man  was  killed  by  a  shot  from  the  Cas- 
tle, and  his  death,  because  not  intended,  was  decided  to  be  an 


DEFENCES   OP   THE   SETTLEMENT.  45 

act  of  Providence,  and  another  (the  commander),  was  killed  in 
the  Castle,  by  a  stroke  of  lightning,  which  seemed  still  more 
providential.  A  ship  was  captured  in  the  harbor  without  the 
firing  of  a  gun,  and  the  Indians  at  Muddy  Brook  were  fright- 
ened by  a  show  of  soldiers  that  ran  away  on  a  false  alarm.  The 
Fort  on  "Cornehill,"  served  to  hold  Gov.  Andros  in  durance  for 
a  while,  but  there  is  no  account  that  either  its  "lowd  babbling 
guns,"  or  those  of  the  North  and  South  batteries  were  ever  used 
with  hostile  intent  in  colonial  times.  At  a  later  period,  sunrise 
and  sunset  guns  were  fired  from  Beacon  Hill ;  there  was  some 
cannonading  from  Gen.  Gage's  offensive  fortifications  on  Boston 
Neck,  and  some  heavy  firing  upon  Charlestown  on  the  17th  of 
June,  from  Copp's  Hill.  These  presaged  the  opening  of  the 
revolutionary  war.  So  that,  in  point  of  fact,  the  guns  for  the 
defence  of  Boston  were  among  the  first  turned  against  her. 


HISTORICAL    MEMORANDA 


CHAPTER   VI. 

Vacation  of  the  Charter  —  President  Dudley  —  Sir  Edmund  Andros  —  Revolu- 
tion of  1689 — Account  by  an  Eye-witness  —  Expedition  against  Louis- 
bourg  —  Its  capture,  June  17,  1745  —  Excitement  in  1768  —  British  Sol- 
diers expected  from  Halifax  —  Use  of  the  Beacon  proposed  —  Tar  barrel 
at  its  top —  Sons  of  Liberty  defeated  —  The  Boston  Massacre. 

The  first  Charter  of  the  Colony  was  vacated  in  June  1684, 
but  certain  intelligence  of  the  act  was  not  received  until  July  of 
the  next  year;  and  nearly  a  year  later,  May.  1686,  Joseph 
Dudley  arrived  out  as  President  of  New  England.  In  Decem- 
ber, of  the  same  year,  Sir  Edmund  Andros  arrived  and  assumed 
the  government,  which  he  administered  tyrannically  for  three 
years.  In  1689,  occasion  arose  for  the  use  of  Beacon  Hill  in  the 
direction  of  the  purposes  to  which  it  had  been  devoted  and  for 
which  its  beacon  pole  had  been  erected  ;  and  this  was  not  found 
to  be  against  the  Indians,  but  against  the  local  government, 
whose  oppressions  and  burdens  had  become  unbearable,  after 
the  capricious  vacation  of  the  charter.  Among  the  most  aggra- 
vating and  preposterous  claims  of  Andros  was  one  that  the  land 
of  the  peninsula  had  all  reverted  to  the  King,  in  consequence  of 
'the  revocation  of  the  charter.  This  sensibly  touched  every  set- 
tler in  the  colony.     The  householders  of  Boston  had  purchased 


HISTORICAL    MEMORANDA.  47 

their  land  of  Blackstone  in  the  first  instance,  and  subsequently, 
in  1684-5,  bought  off  an  Indian  claim  to  the  peninsula  ;  but 
the  pretentious  governor  sneered  at  all  this,  and  declared  that 
the  signature  of  an  Indian  to  a  deed  was  of  no  more  conse- 
quence than  the  scratch  of  a  bear's  claw  ! 

In  the  account  of  the  Andros  rebellion,  by  Byfield.  he  says 
"  about  8  o'clock  in  the  morning,  April  18,  it  was  reported  at 
the  South  end  of  the  town  that  at  the  North  end  they  were  all 
in  arms ;  and  the  like  report  was  at  the  North  end  respecting 
the  South  end.  About  nine  of  the  clock  the  drums  beat  through 
the  town,  and  an  ensign  was  set  upon  the  Beacon." 

In  the  account  given  by  an  "  Eye-witness"  and  published  by 
Hutchinson,  it  is  said,  "  soon  after  [the  Governor  reached  the 
Town  House],  the  Jack  was  hoisted  up  at  the  Fort,  and  a  pair 
of  colors  at  Beacon  Hill,  which  gave  notice  to  some  thousand 
soldiers  on  the  Charlestown  side,  that  the  controversy  was  now 
to  be  ended,  and  multitudes  would  have  been  there,  but  that 
there  was  no  need."  In  the  afternoon  according  to  this  account, 
the  people  from  the  country  "  came  armed  into  the  town,  in 
such  rage  and  heat  that  it  made  us  all  tremble  to  think  what 
would  follow,  for  nothing  would  satisfy  them  but  that  the  Gov- 
ernor must  be  bound  in  chains  or  cords  and  put  in  a  more  se- 
cure place ;  and  that  they  would  see  done  before  they  went 
away,  and,  to  satisfy  them,  he  was  guarded  by  them  to  the 
Fort."  The  Charlestown  people  may  have  been  detained  by 
the  ferry,  but  "probably  were  among  those  who  came  into  town 
in  the  afternoon.  The  Lynn  people  came  in  the  next  day,  19th. 
A  paper  was  drawn  up  and  signed  by  the  Governor  surrender- 
ing the  government  and  the  castle  to  the  people.  In  two  days 
the  revolution,  as  it  was  called,  was  achieved  without  bloodshed. 


48  HISTORICAL    MEMORANDA. 

Fort  Hill  was  conspicuous  in  the  proceedings  of  this  memorable 
occasion,  but  no  further  use  was  made  of  Beacon  Hill.  The 
Governor,  Mr.  Dudley,  Mr.  Randolph,  (who  was  the  author  of 
all  this  trouble,)  and  others,  were  held  as  prisoners  through  the 
summer  and  fall,  and  then  sent  to  England  for  trial  ;  but,  of 
course,  they  escaped  punishment.  The  people,  however,  had 
had  an  experience  which  was  valuable  to  them,  and  to  Andros 
belongs  the  credit  of  first  suggesting  to  the  colonists  the  idea  of 
resisting  an  oppressive  and  unjust  government,  if  he  did  not  in 
fact,  sow  the  seed  of  the  greater  revolution  which  followed. 

The  first  house  built  upon  Beacon  Hill,  near  to  its  summit, 
was  the  mansion  house  of  Thomas  Hancock,  a  wealthy  merchant 
of  Boston,  and  the  uncle  of  the  distinguished  patriot  of  the 
revolution,  who  ultimately  became  the  owner  and  occupant  of 
the  estate.  It  was  built  in  1737,  of  stone.  The  estate  was 
originally  bounded  ' '  on  Beacon  street  from  Mount  Vernon  to 
Belknap  [Joy]  street,  including  the  grounds  of  the  State  House, 
Hancock  Avenue  and  Mount  Vernon  Place ;  and  westerly  em- 
bracing Mount  Vernon  street,  which  was  given  to  the  town ;  a 
part  of  Hancock  street,  where  were  his  gardener's  extensive 
nursery,  and  other  lands  including  a  part  of  Beacon  Hill,  now 
occupied  by  the  Cochil^uate  Reservoir,  never  before  improved  by 
any  building,  until  it  was  sold  to  the  city  in  1847."  (We  think 
this  is  a  mistake,  as  a  part  of  the  lot  now  occupied  by  the  res- 
ervoir, was  the  site  of  the  Derne  street  school  house.  We  shall 
probably  be  able  to  give  a  more  complete  and  accurate  descrip- 
tion of  the  boundaries  of  this  estate  when  we  come  to  speak  of 
its  division  and  disposition  and  the  sale  by  the  town  of  the  six 
rods  square,  originally  reserved  for  the  Beacon.)     On  the  west 


HISTORICAL    MEMORANDA.  49 

side  of  the  mansion  house  were  the  stable  and  carriage  house, 
and  on  the  east  the  cow  pasture,  which  was  afterwards  pur- 
chased of  the  heirs  of  Governor  Hancock  for  the  erection  of 
the  new  State  House.  The  grounds  towards  the  summit  of 
the  hill   were  improved  as  gardens  and  orchards. 

In  1745,  mention  is  made  of  a  wealthy  merchant,  Col.  James 
Gibson,  who  contributed  £500  towards  the  expedition  planned 
by  Governor  Shirley  against  Louisbourg,  and  went  himself  as  a 
volunteer.  His  residence  was  at  "  Beacon  Hill,  and  one  of  the 
finest  in  town."  General  Pepperell  commanded  the  expedition, 
and  the  provincial  navy  of  ten  vessels  with  20  guns,  was  joined 
by  Admiral  Warren  with  the  British  fleet. 

This  expedition  when  proposed  to  the  general  court  was  ap- 
proved by  a  majority  of  one  vote ;  and  it  was  carried  through 
without  either  the  aid  or  countenance  of  the  home  government. 
The  people  of  Boston  —  whose  business  had  been  seriously  in- 
terrupted by  the  war  with  France  —  were  very  ready  to  forward 
the  undertaking,  and  there  were  more  volunteers  than  were 
needed,  at  25s.  per  month.  The  expedition  —  strictly  a  Boston 
enterprise  —  was  successful,  and  Louisbourg  surrendered  on  the 
17th  of  June,  1745.  The  news  was  received  in  Boston  on  the 
3d  of  July,  and  there  was  what  was  called  "a  handsome  bon- 
fire," perhaps  on  Beacon  Hill.  "  Few  events  have  caused  such 
rejoicings  in  Boston  as  did  the  reception  of  the  news  of  the  cap- 
ture of  Louisbourg."  Four  years  afterwards  England  paid  the 
cost  of  the  expedition  in  the  sum  of  £  183,049  2s.  l^d.  This 
was  sent  over  in  one  or  more  ships  to  Boston,  and  deposited  in 
the  town  treasury.  There  were  seventeen  cart  and  truck  loads 
of  silver  and  ten  loads  of  copper.     In  a  similar  transaction  today 


50  HISTORICAL    MEMORANDA. 

probably  not  a  dollar  of  the  money  would  be  removed  from  the 
vaults  of  the  Bank  of  England.  Subsequently  over  sixteen 
thousand  pounds  were  paid  over  to  New  Hampshire,  nearly 
twenty-nine  thousand  to  Connecticut,  and  over  six  thousand  to 
Rhode  Island,  while  Massachusetts  retained  for  her  share  over 
one  hundred  and  thirty-two  thousand  pounds. 

In  1768,  when  it  was  expected  that  British  troops  were  com- 
ing to  Boston,  a  meeting  was  held  to  consider  the  subject  and 
adopt  measures  for  "the  peace  and  safety  of  His  Majesty's  sub- 
jects in  this  Province."  At  this  time,  September  10,  an  officer 
arrived  from  Halifax,  "whose  mission  was  rightly  judged  to  be 
to  make  arrangements  for  quartering  the  troops  in  the  town.  — 
Immediately  after  his  arrival  a  tar  barrel  was  discovered  in  the 
skillet  of  the  Beacon,  on  Beacon  Hill.  This,  it  was  under- 
stood, was  to  be  fired  when  the  King's  ships  containing  the 
troops  from  Halifax,  should  make  their  appearance  in  the  bay. 
Constrains;  the  elevation  of  a  tar  barrel,  under  such  circum- 
stances,  to  be  a  gross  insult,  in  his  military  capacity,  the  Gov- 
ernor (Bernard)  summoned  the  Council,  which  was  held  at  a 
gentleman's  house  halfway  between  the  Governor's,  at  Jamaica 
Plain,  and  Boston."  We  do  not  precisely  see  how  the  "eleva- 
tion of  a  tar  barrel"  was  an  insult  to  the  Governor,  "in  his  mil- 
itary capacity,"  and  if  so,  why  he  should  assemble  the  civil 
council  to  relieve  his  feelings. 

At  this  meeting  the  tar  barrel  was  debated  and  it  was  "re- 
solved that  the  Selectmen  should  be  desired  to  take  it  down  ;  but 
they  would  not  do  it."  However,  Sheriff  Greenleaf  had  private 
orders  from  the  Governor  and  Council  to  remove  it,  usins;  his 
discretion  as  to  the  proper  time  to  do  it.     He,  therefore,  taking 


HISTORICAL    MEMORANDA.  51 

about  half  a  dozen  men  with  him,  proceeded  stealthily  to  the 
hill,  just  at  dinner  time,  and  effected  the  important  object  in 
about  ten  minutes.  Thus  was  a  victory  over  the  Sons  of  Lib- 
erty* gained  while  they  were  not  expecting  the  enemy."  Gov- 
ernor Bernard  says  "it  was  an  empty  turpentine  barrel,  and 
was  put  upon  the  pole  of  the  Beacon,  (which  had  lately  been 
erected  .anew  in  a  great  hurry  by  the  Selectmen,  without  con- 
sulting him,)  which  gave  great  alarm,"  &c.  Matters  now,  he 
said,  "exceeded  all  former  exceedings."  The  town  records  of 
September  12th,  state  that  "  a  vote  of  the  honorable  board  [the 
Executive  Council]  respecting  the  tar  barrel,  which  was  the 
other  night  placed  on  the  skillet  on  Beacon  Hill,  by  persons  un- 
known, was  committed  to  the  town,  but  not  acted  upon." 

The  tar  barrel  dispute  died  away,  the  British  troops  arrived 
as  expected  and  gave  rise  to  new  disputes  and  disagreements  be- 
tween the  Governor  and  the  people  ;  but  it  does  not  appear  that 
any  farther  use  was  made  of  Beacon  Hill  or  the  Beacon  at  this 
time.  Some  years  later,  before  the  fort  was  constructed  upon 
its  summit,  barracks  for  the  soldiers  were  built  against  the 
hill  or  partly  into  its  sides. 

In  the  general  excitement  on  the  5th  of  March,  1770,  which 
commenced  at  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  the  fire  bells 
were  rung,  to  call  out  the  people,  and  they  were  directed  to 


*  "  The  Sons  of  Liberty"  were  indebted  for  this  popular  name  to  Colonel 
Barre,  who  first  used  it  in  the  debate  on  the  Stamp  Act,  in  the  British  Parlia- 
ment, in  1765.  He  charged  government  with  sending  to  America  men  who 
were  "deputies  of  deputies  to  some  members  of  this  House  —  men  whose  be- 
havior on  many  occasions  had  caused  the  blood  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty  to  recoil 
within  them ;"  and,  as  he  said,  men  who  were  glad  to  go  to  America  in  order 
to  escape  being  brought  to  the  bar  of  the  court  at  home. 


52  HISTORICAL    MEMORANDA. 

King  street.  Captain  Preston,  who  commanded  the  main  guard 
at  the  time,  and  who  used  the  most  strenuous  efforts  to  prevent 
bloodshed,  had  his  fears  further  excited  bj  being  "told  that  it 
was  a  plan  of  the  people  to  massacre  the  soldiers  and  that  a 
tar  barrel  was  to  be  fired  on  Beacon  Hill,  to  bring  in  the  people 
from  the  country ;"  but  there  is  no  account  showing  that  any- 
thing of  the  kind  was  done  or  contemplated. 

These  brief  sketches  of  the  early  history  of  the  town,  hav- 
ing more  or  less  relation  to  Beacon  Hill,  illustrate  the  spirit  Of 
the  times  and  the  excitements  under  which  the  people  lived,  as 
compared  with  those  of  the  present  day.  The  people  of  Massa- 
chusetts, with  their  education  and  intelligence,  would  not  now 
endure  such  a  governor  as  Sir  Edmund  Andros  for  twenty-four 
hours  ;'  and  such  an  expedition  as  that  of  1745,  however  well- 
planned  and  efficient  for  that  time,  Avould  now  complete  its 
work  with  terrible  certainty,  in  two  or  three  weeks  instead  of 
double  that  number  of  months,  while  the  account  of  its  cost 
might  be  arranged  in  half  an  hour  by  telegraph,  without  a  two 
months'  voyage  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  the  shipment  of 
more  than  three  hundred  chests  and  casks  of  coined  money. 


THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Beacon  Hill  during  the  Revolution  —  British  Troops  in  Boston,  ostensibly  to 
preserve  order  —  Occupying  the  Defences  of  the  Colony  against  the  peo- 
ple.—  The  Beacon,  the  early  device  for  defence,  under  their  control  —  The 
Sons  of  Liberty  use  the  Church  Tower  to  warn  the  country  of  danger  — 
The  Port  Act  and  the  Continental  Congress  —  Commencement  of  the  War 
—  The  conflict  of  the  19th  of  April  (pai'tially)  and  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill  seen  from  Beacon  Hill  —  Fort  built  upon  its  summit. 

During  the  twenty  years  that  elapsed,  between  1770,  when 
King  street  was  stained  with  the  blood  of  the  people,  and  1790, 
when  the  war  was  ended  and  the  independence  of  the  country 
secured,  Beacon  Hill,  still  in  its  pristine  integrity  of  height, 
looked  down  with  complacency  upon  the  progress  of  events 
which  were  soon  to  be  commemorated  on  its  summit.  It  had 
been  consecrated  to  the  best  interests  of  the  colony  and  was  re- 
garded as  the  landmark  of  the  settlement.  It  was  now  to  wit- 
ness more  stirring  scenes  of  greatest  moment  and  fraught  with 
the  future  destinies  of  a  great  nation. 

There  were  British  troops  in  Boston  at  different  times  prior 
to  1768,  but  those  of  this  year  were  ordered  by  Gen.  Gage, 
then  residing  at  New  York  and  commanding  the  British  forces 
in  North  America,  on  account  of  suggestions  made  by  Governor 


54  THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

Bernard,  for  the  alleged  purpose  of  "preserving  the  peace  and 
good  order  of  the  town,"  which  had  been  somewhat  disturb- 
ed on  account  of  that  legislative  abortion,  the  Stamp  Act.* 
From  this  time  until  the  final  Evacuation  of  Boston,  in  1776, 
(excepting  while  the  Sam  Adams  Regiments  were  at  the  castle) 
British  troops  were  quartered  in  the  town,  —  in  Faneuil  Hall 
and  the  Churches  —  ostensibly  to  preserve  order,  but  really  to 
enforce  compliance  with  the  acts  of  parliament,  which  the  people 
had  shown  a  disposition  to  resist.  Of  course  they  occupied  the 
fort  and  assumed  control  of  the  colonial  defences,  and  built 
new  fortifications  for  offensive,  and  as  Gen.  Gage  himself  inti- 
mated, defensive  purposes. 

This  state  of  things,  neither  contemplated  or  foreseen,  changed 
the  relations  heretofore  subsisting  between  Beacon  Hill,  and 
the  whole  system  of  defences,  and  the  people  of  Boston.  — 
These  were  in  point  of  fact,  no  longer  in  possession  of  the  town, 
and  no  longer  under  its  control.  They'  were  exclusively  in 
charge,  not  to  say  of  the  enemies  of  the  country,  but  of  govern- 
ment officers,  to  be  directed  and  used  against  the  people,  to  over- 
awe and  compel  them  to  submit  to  the  taxes  and  burdens  impos- 
ed upon  them  by  the  King  and  his  ministers.  The  Beacon,  the 
early  and  significant  device  of  the  colonists  as  a  means  of  com- 


*The  Stamp  Act  was  passed  in  1765,  and  repealed  in  1766.  On  the  arri- 
val of  a  large  quantity  of  stamped  paper  in  Boston,  which  the  Governor  knew 
the  people  would  not  use,  he  desired  the  order  of  the  Council  as  to  the  disposi- 
tion of  it,  but  the  Council  declined  to  interfere,  as  also  did  the  Legislature.  — 
Finally  the  Governor  had  it  landed  at  the  Castle,  and  ordered  a  guard  to  be 
placed  over  it,  the  expense  of  which  was  afterwards  a  cause  of  dispute  between 
him  and  the  Legislature,  on  the  ground  that  he  had  no  right  to  use  the  money 
of  the  Province  for  any  such  purpose  without  their  order.  The  paper  was  re- 
turned to  England,  with  small  cost  to  the  Colony. 


THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  55 

nion  defence,  was  no  longer  to  be  used,  unless  clandestinely,  in 
any  cause  or  for  any  purpose  in  which  the  people  were  specially 
interested  ;  but  rather  in  aid  of  an  overbearing  government, 
above  all  responsibility  to  the  people,  and  entertaining  designs 
for  their  more  complete  subjugation  and  enslavement.  When, 
a.t  last,  the  time  came  for  its  usefulness,  to  warn  "  the  coun- 
try of  any  danger,"  and  it  could  no  longer  be  reached  in  safe- 
ty, the  Sons  of  Liberty,  not  again  to  be  defeated,  promptly  ap- 
propriated to  their  purposes  what  was  only  more  sacred  to  them 
and  their  cause  —  the  tower  of  the  church. 

The  possible  result  of  this  state  of  affairs  was  no  doubt  seen 
by  the  patriotic  and  indomitable  spirits  of  the  time  ;  and  the 
events  which  followed  culminated  in  two  great  historic  conclu- 
sions :  the  passage  of  the  Boston  Port  Act  of  June,  1774,  and 
the  assembling  of  the  Continental  Congress  at  Philadelphia, 
only  three  months  later.  The  first  of  these  was  the  grossest 
act  of  tyranny  and  oppression  which  could  be  conceived  of — 
avowedly  for  the  "punishment  of  Boston," — and  produced 
as  its  legitimate  result,  the  Union  of  the  Colonies.*  for  com- 
mon protection  and  combined  resistance  to  enslavement.  So 
rapid  and  so  significant  were  the  events,  that  in  less  than  one 
year  from  the  Port  Act,  through  a  series  of  links  in  the  historic 
chain,  the  royal  troops  on  one  hand,  and  an  aroused  and  indig- 
nant people  on  the  other,  were  in  open  and  bloody  conflict  on 
fields  rendered  memorable  in  the  history  of  the  country. 

It  is  not  oar  purpose  to  fill  out  this  history,  so  full  of  thrill- 
ing incident  and  absorbing  interest.     The  measures  to  which  we 


*The  First  Continental  Congress  only  included  twelve  colonies   (omitting 
Georgia)  and  assembled  at  Philadelphia,  September  5,  1774. 


5Q  THE    AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 

have  referred,  on  the  part  of  the  home  government,  —  so  un- 
just, tyrannical  and  vindictive  towards  the  colonists,  —  ren- 
dered rebellion,  and  of  course  civil  war.  unavoidable.  There 
was  for  them  only  the  alternative  of  submission  or  rebellion  — 
there  was  no  middle  ground  to  take.  The  "  excursion  to  Con- 
cord" had  made  "reconciliation  impossible."  The  troops  of  the 
King,  having  for  years  made  the  commercial  town  of  Boston  a 
military  barrack,  with  all  its  concomitant  evils,  entered  at  last 
upon  a  murderous  warfare  against  a  people  who  still  desired  to 
remain  among  the  most  loyal  of  his  subjects.  The  conflict  of 
the  years  which  followed  was  of  course  inevitable  and  resulted  in 
the  establishment  of  the  independence  of  the  country. 

Beacon  Hill  and  the  people  who  flocked  to  its  consecrated 
summit  and  stood  upon  that  earliest  reservation  of  the  colonists, 
the  historic  six  rods  square,  witnessed  the  termination  of  the 
reckless  and  murderous  raid  upon  Lexington  and  Concord,  and 
were  permitted  to  behold  that  grand  and  terrible  scene  which  so 
soon  followed  it,  upon  the  heights  of  Charlestown.  These  early 
and  sanguinary  conflicts,  —  to  sustain  oppression  and  tyranny 
on  one  hand,  and  in  defence  of  the  rights  of  the  people  on  the 
other, — which  have  ever  distinguished  Massachusetts  history, — 
were  witnessed,  by  the  friends  of  both  parties,  each  with  per- 
sonal interest  and  thrilling  anxiety  in  the  results,  from  the 
summit  of  Beacon  Hill  —  the  first  at  the  conclusion  of  the  day's 
pursuit  from  Concord  to  Charlestown  Neck,  and  the  other  in  all 
its  terrible  grandeur  from  beginning  to  end.  These  sanguinary 
events,  which  spread  quickly  over  the  United  Colonies,  opened 
the  revolutionary  war  ;  and  Avhile  they  were  the  only  engage- 
ments which  occurred  within  the  limits  of  the  State,  were  both 


THE   NINETEENTH   OF    APRIL.  57 

seen  from  Beacon  Hill,  and  were,  —  one  partly  and  the  other 
entirely  —  within  the  limits  of  the  town  of  Charlestown. 

The  fact  is  not  generally  understood  that  the  hardest  righting 
encountered  by  Lord  Percy,  in  the  earliest  of  these  conflicts  was 
at  Menotomy  and  in  Charlestown,  before  reaching  the  Common. 
Here  the  number  of  troops  on  one  side,  and  of  minute-men 
on  the  other,  was  more  than  double  that  from  Concord.  Lord 
Percy  added  a  thousand  men  to  Colonel  Smith's  detachment,  at 
Lexington,  and  a  much  larger  number  joined  the  pursuers  after 
leaving  that  town.  Gen.  Heath  wras  then  in  command  of  the 
colonists,  and  Dr.  Warren  was  actively  engaged  in  directing  the 
pursuit.  The  flying  troops  took  the  road  which  crosses  the  little 
river  running  from  Fresh  Pond,  (then  the  boundary  line  of 
Charlestown  and  Menotomy,)  and  skirted  around  the  base  of 
Prospect  Hill,  where  the  conflict  was  severest  and  so  open  to 
observation  from  the  heights  in  Boston,  that  Gen.  Gage  might 
himself  have  seen  the  most  of  it,  and  very  possibly  did  see  it, 
from  the  summit  of  the  hill  near  his  garrison.  The  troops  from 
Danvers  came  in  at  Menotomy  :  they  were  comparatively  fresh 
and  well  supplied,  while  the  British  troops  were  both  exhausted 
and  short  of  ammunition.  A  letter  from  Boston  to  the  south 
explains  why  they  were  not  all  captured.  It  says  that  they  re- 
treated to  Bunker  Hill,  "  where  they  entrenched,  and  night 
parted  them.  Our  numbers  increased  and  would  have  surround- 
ed the  hill  had  it  not  been  for  the  situation  near  the  water, 
where  on  one  side,  they  wTere  exposed  to  the  fire  from  a  man-of- 
war."  Another  letter,  dated  the  day  after  the  fighting,  says  — 
"  The  engagement  lasted  until  night  put  an  end  to  it.  I  saio  a 
great  part  of  it  from  Beacon  Hill"  Gen.  Washington,  who 
had  his  information  from  those  who  were  present  in  the  fight, 


58  REMOVAL   OF   THE    BEACON. 

wrote  some  time  afterwards,  "  If  the  retreat  had  not  been  as 
precipitate  as  it  was  —  and  God  knows  it  could  not  well  have 
been  more  so  —  the  ministerial  troops  must  have  surrendered,  or 
been  totally  cut  on0."  He  thought  if  the  men  from  Marblehead 
and  Salem,  who  were  almost  at  their  heels,  had  been  up  half  an 
hour  earlier,  they  would  inevitably  have  intercepted  their  re- 
treat before  they  could  have  got  under  cover  of  their  ships. 

It  was  a  narrow  escape  for  such  an  exhausted  army,  at  the 
end  of  a  forty  miles  journey,  pursued  and  harrassed  as  they  had 
been  by  the  despised  yeomanry  of  the  country.  As  it  was,  it 
is  probable  that  more  troops  were  disabled  within  the  limits  of 
Charlestown  than  on  the  entire  route  from  Concord,  with  propor- 
tionately less  loss  to  the  Americans. 

It  must  be  allowed,  we  think,  that  while  Charlestown  had 
more  than  its  share  of  the  war,  Beacon  Hill  witnessed,  in  a  most 
emphatic  sense,  these  opening  events  of  the  revolution. 

The  Beacon,  according  to  Governor  Bernard,  was  rebuilt,  as 
he  says,  without  his  consent,  in  1768*;  and  this  remained  until 
removed  by  General  Gage,  in  1775.  After  the  discomfiture  of 
the  19th  of  April,  and  on  account  of  the  gathering  of  Provin- 
cial troops  at  Cambridge,  he  found  it  necessary  to  increase  and 
extend  his  defences ;  and  among  other  things  a  small  fort  was 
built  on  Beacon  Hill,  and  the  Beacon  removed. 


*  It  had  probably  not  been  clown  for  a  very  long  time,  as  it  appears  in 
Governor  Pownall's  View  of  Boston,  taken  from  Castle  William,  eight  or  ten 
years  before,  between  1757  and  1760,  during  his  administration. 


BEACON  HILL  AND  THE  BEACON. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Beacon  Hill  despoiled  of  its  beacon  —  Defences  of  Boston  after  the  Evacua 
tion  —  Beacon  Hill  and  the  company  gathered  upon  it  on  17th  of  June  — 
General  Gage's  proclamation  of  pardon  — Its  exception  of  Hancock  and 
Adams  —  Counter  Proclamation  of  the  Provincial  Congress — Doggerel 
account  of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill — Threats  against  Hancock  and 
Adams  —  The  triumph  of  their  cause  —  Their  position  as  Governor  and 
Lieut.  Governor  of  the  State  —  The  last  of  the  Beacon. 

In  the  incipiencj  of  the  revolutionary  war,  from  the  time 
General  Gage  gave  a  military  character  to  the  government  of 
the  colony,  to  the  evacuation  of  Boston,  in  March,  1776, 
Beacon  Hill  was  despoiled  of  its  historic  pole,  which  possibly 
it  may  have  missed  in  earlier  times.  Now,  however,  its  relations 
to  the  people  who  had  so  early  consecrated  it  to  their  protection, 
were  all  changed.  It  was  the  observatory  of  their  enemies,  and 
its  summit  was  occupied  by  "a  small  square  fort."  There 
were  two  frowning  redoubts  on  its  western  elevation,  looking  to- 
wards Cambridge.  These  and  some  other  defences,  were  visited 
soon  after  the  British  troops  left  them,  by  Dr.  John  Warren, 
who  was  a  brother  of  the  deceased  patriot  and  surgeon  of  the 
company  from  Salem  on  the  19th  of  April.  He  says  the 
two   redoubts    in   the   neighborhood  of  Mount   Vernon,    "ap- 


60  BEACON  HILL  AND  THE  BEACON. 

peared  to  be  considerably  strong.  Just  by  the  shore,  opposite 
Lechmere's  Point,  is  a  bomb  battery,  lined  with  plank.  Upon 
Beacon  Hill  were  scarcely  more  than  the  fortifications  by  nature 
—  a  very  insignificant  shallow  ditch,  with  a  few  short  pickets,  a 
platform,  and  one  twenty-four  pounder,  which  could  not  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  any  part  of  the  hill.  [  ?  ]  This  was  left 
spiked  and  the  bore  crammed.  On  Copp's  Hill,  at  the  north, 
was  nothing  more  than  a  few  barrels,  filled  with  dirt,  to  form 
parapets.  Three  twenty-four  pounders,  upon  a  platform,  were 
left  spiked  and  crammed  ;  all  these,  as  well  as  the  others,  on 
carriages.  The  parapets  in  this  fort  and  Beacon  Hill  did  not 
at  all  cover  the  men  who  should  work  the  cannon." 

We  do  not  readily  discern  what  "hill"  is  referred  to  by  Dr. 
Warren,  in  the  above  extract  from  his  Diary.  If  he  refers  to 
Bunker  Hill,  it  may  be  said  that  at  the  time  of  the  battle  there 
was  neither  fort  or  cannon  on  Beacon  Hill  ;  and,  after  the  bat- 
tle, both  hills  were  in  possession  of  General  Gage.  The  fortifi- 
cations mentioned  on  Mount  Vernon,  and  on  the  shore,  were 
hardly  a  match  for  General  Putnam's  superior  works  at  Cobble 
Hill,  and  were  probably  intended  to  prevent  the  approach  of 
any  part  of  Washington's  army  upon  the  town  on  the  ice,  which 
he  knew  was  a  practicable  movement,  and  one  which  had  been 
attempted  upon  the  outposts  at  Charlestown. 

While  the  British  troops  occupied  the  town  in  force,  Beacon 
Hill  was  of  little  interest  to  the  people  of  Boston,  excepting 
for  the  purpose  of  occasionally  observing  the  movements  of  the 
enemy,  when  possible,  or  of  witnessing  the  conflicts  that  might 
occur  between  the  parties.  In  viewing  these  the  patriots  and 
the  tories  of  the  town  and  the  unengaged  soldiers  of  the  royal 
army,  all  congregated  on  the  summit.     An  assemblage  of  this 


BEACON  HILL  AND  THE  BEACON.  61 

nature  covered  the  hill  on  the  17th  of  June,  and  there  was  no 
doubt  much  intense  and  antagonistic  feeling  among  them  as  the 
events  of  the  day,  —  the  early  cannonading,  the  engagement,  the 
conflagration,  and  the  final  retreat,  —  were  seen  to  follow  each 
other  on  the  opposite  shore  of  the  river.  We  have  no  accounts 
as  to  the  order  preserved  in  such  an  assemblage,  with  such  hopes 
and  fears  as  filled  them ;  but  possibly  it  did  not  differ  materially 
from  other  gatherings  in  the  town,  when  patriots,  tories  and  sol- 
diers were  present,  as  during  the  tea  excitement  two  years  pre- 
viously. There  were  then,  however,  numbers  of  people  from 
the  country  in  the  town,  while  just  prior  to  the  battle  of  Bun- 
ker Hill  many  hundred  families  and  thousands  of  the  poor,  had 
left  the  town  for  safety  and  support  in  the  suburbs. 

Only  five  days  previous  to  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  General 
Gage  issued  his  famous  proclamation  of  pardon  to  "  all  who 
shall  lay  down  their  arms."  He  had  supposed  and  so  repre- 
sented to  Lord  Dartmouth,  that  such  a  measure  would  be  judi- 
cious and  effectual  ;  but  it  proved  the  reverse  in  both  respects, 
for  it  was  unwise  and  ineffectual.  The  exception  which  was 
made  in  regard  to  Sam  Adams  and  John  Hancock,  if  nothing 
else,  would  have  proved  fatal  to  any  good  effect  of  the  proffered 
leniency  of  the  government.  The  .thing  was  rejected  by  the 
patriots  and  contemned  by  the  people,  who  not  only  expressed 
their  contempt  for  the  author  but  their  indignation  at  his  pre- 
sumption. The  Provincial  Congress  travestied  the  whole  thing, 
in  a  counter-proclamation,  dated  June  16,  offering  pardon  to 
those  who  had  fled  into  Boston  for  refuge  and  other  offenders, 
"  excepting  only  from  the  benefit  of  such  pardon,  Thomas  Gage, 
Samuel  Graves,  [Admiral  of  the  fleet]  ;  those  Counsellors  who 
were  appointed  by  mandamus  and  have  not  signified  their  re- 


62  BEACON  HILL  AND  THE  BEACON. 

signation,  viz:  Jonathan  Sewall,  Charles  Paxton,  Benj.  Hal- 
lowell ;  and  all  the  natives  of  America  who  went  out  with  the 
regular  troops  on  the  19th  of  April,  *  *  *  whose  offences 
are  of  too  flagitious  a  nature  to  merit  any  other  consideration 
but  that  of  condign  punishment." 

The  tories  exulted  in  Gage's  proclamation  :  they  affected  to 
believe,  as  did  General  Gage,  that  the  mass  of  the  people  were 
misled,  "  infatuated,"  as  he  said,  and  would  accept  the  offer  of 
pardon  and  return  to  their  allegiance.  They  were  sanguine  in 
their  belief  that  Adams  and  Hancock  would  be  arrested,  or  pos- 
sibly seized  by  military  force,  and  shot,  hung  or  sent  to  Eng- 
land for  trial.  Just  at  this  moment  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill 
was  precipitated  upon  the  colony  and  the  army.  Its  results  and 
consequences  are  well  known  ;  and  these,  fatal  as  they  were  to 
all  hope  of  maintaining  British  authority  in  the  colony,  were 
accepted  by  the  tories,  if  not  by  General  Gage  or  the  home  gov- 
ernment, as  a  victory  in  their  behalf.  The  well  known  dog- 
gerel, contemporary  with  the  battle  and  written  by  a  tory,  either 
English  or  American,  beginning 

"It  was  the  Seventeenth  —  by  break  of  day, 
"  The  Yankees  did  surprise  us," 

recognizes  the  supposed  potency  of  Gage's  .proclamation  in  the 
lines  which  conclude  the  production,  as  follows  : 

"  And  now  my  song  is  at  an  end, 

"  And  to  conclude  my  ditty, 
"It  is   the  poor  and  ignorant, 

"  And  only  them  I  pity. 
"  As  for  their  King,  John  Hancock, 

"  And  Adams,  if  they're  taken, 
"  Their  heads  for  signs  shall  hang  up  high 
"Upon  that  hill   call'd  Beacon  !" 


BEACON  HILL  AND  THE  BEACON.  63 

The  ignominious  threat  in  these  anonymous  lines  was  not 
more  impotent  than  was  the  equally  ignominious  proclamation 
of  General  Gage,  which  was  authorized  by  the  king  and  his 
ministers.  In  less  than  four  months  from  this  time,  and  on  the 
day  before  General  Gage  sailed  for  England,  at  the  command  of 
the  king,  his  successor,  General  Howe,  recommended  the  evacu- 
ation of  Boston.  The  renowned  patriots,  the  objects  of  such 
vengeance,  which  neither  king  or  tory  was  permitted  to  inflict, 
lived  to  see  the  triumph  of  their  cause  and  the  full  fruition  of 
their  hopes.  More  than  this,  while  Governor  and  Lieutenant 
Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  which  they  had  created,  they 
witnessed  the  erection, 

"  Upon  that  hill  call'd  Beacon,'* 

of  a  monument  to  commemorate  the  struggle  in  which  they  had 
been  so  earnestly  engaged,  its  history  and  its  results. 

Immediately  after  the  evacuation,  in  March  1776,  as  soon  as 
the  people  of  Boston  regained  possession  of  Beacon  Hill,  an- 
other pole  was  erected  by  the  town  nearly  in  the  centre  of  the 
British  fort ;  and  this  remained  in  position  for  more  than  thir- 
teen years,  long  after  the  termination  of  the  war,  when  it  was 
blown  down  in  a  violent  'storm.  In  the  Independent  Chroni- 
icle  of  November  26,  1789,  the  occurrence  is  mentioned  as 
follows  : 

"The  Beacon,  which  was  erected  on  Beacon  Hill,  during  the 
last  war,  to  alarm  the  country  in  case  of  an  invasion  of  the 
British  into  this  town,  was  on  Thursday  night  last  blown  down." 

In  another  notice  of  this  storm,  published  the  next  week,  it 
is  said,  "  In  the  last  storm,  the  Beacon  that  was  erected  on  the 
spit  of  sand,  at  the  entrance  of  the  lower  harbor,  for  the  benefit 


64  BEACON  HILL  AND  THE  BEACON. 

of  vessels  coming  in  and  going  out,  was  blown  down  and  taken 
up  afloat  in  Braintree  Bay,  last  Friday  morning.  The  pole 
and  wheels  in  good  order." 

We  have  thus  seen  the  end  of  the  Beacon  on  the  famous  Tri- 
mountain  ;  there  was  nothing  of  it  thereafter  but  the  name.  This 
still  remains  to  the  hill,  and  is  perpetuated  in  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  fashionable  streets  in  the  city,  running  on  the 
upper  side  of  the  ancient  Common,  while  one  of  the  city's  great 
thoroughfares  bears  the  earlier  name  of  Tremont,  and  runs 
approximately  parallel  with  it  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
Common. 

There  is  no  reason  to  apprehend  that  the  name  of  Beacon 
Hill  will  ever  be  eliminated  from  their  history  or  forgotten  by 
the  people  of  Boston. 


BEACON    HILL    MONUMENT. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Building  of  the  Monument  —  Description  of  the  Hill,  new  State  House  and 
Monument,  from  Dennie's  Portfolio,  in  1811 —  The  Monument  proposed 
—  Mr.  Bulfinch,  the  architect,  furnishes  the  design  —  His  connection  with 
Beacon  Hill  —  Commencement  of  the  work  —  Description  from  the  Mass. 
Magazine,  in  1790  — Absence  of  all  public  proceedings  or  ceremonies  — 
Dimensions  of  the  Column  — Inscriptions  upon  the  Tablets  from  Governor 
Bowdoin's  papers  —  Their  authorship. 

After  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  the  establishment 
of  the  general  government  having  "  diffused  confidence  in  the 
minds  of  the  citizens,  and  all  fears  of  invasion  being  happily 
removed,"  in  1790,  the  citizens  of  Boston  erected  the  Beacon 
Hill  Monument,  "to  commemorate  that  train  of  events  which 
led  to  the  American  Revolution  and  finally  secured  Liberty  and 
Independence  to  the  United  States."  The  spot  chosen  for  the 
erection  of  this  memorial  column  was  historically  famous  and 
eminently  conspicuous  and  commanding  ;  but,  it  would  seem,  was 
unwisely  chosen  in  view  of  the  prospective  destruction  of  the 
hill,  foreshadowed  in  the  report  of  the  town's  committee  twenty- 
two  years  before.*     The  monument  was  a  plain,  finely  propor- 

*  See  page  37,  ante. 


66  BEACON    HILL    MONUMENT. 

tioned  Doric  column,  "built  of  brick,  covered  with  stucco,  with 
foundation  and  mouldings  of  stone." 

Dennie's  (Philadelphia)  Portfolio,  of  November,  1811,  gives 
a  short  account  and  description  of  the  Monument,  accompanied 
with  the  engraving  which  is  here  presented,  said  to  be  from  an 
original  painting  by  Sully.  In  describing  the  hill  it  says,  "the 
eminence  now  called  Beacon  Hill,  is  the  most  elevated  point  in 
a  range  of  hilly  ground  which  runs  from  east  to  west,  in  the 
nor ih westerly  part  of  Boston.  It  is  of  a  regular  conical  form, 
and  is  elevated  about  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea.  The  State  House  stands  on  its  southern 
declivity  and  faces  the  Common,  an  undulating  plain  of  fifty 
acres,  surrounded  on  three  sides  with  elegant  buildings  and  pub- 
lic walks.  The  remainder  of  the  range  of  hills  to  the  west, 
which  was  naturally  broken  and  irregular,  has  been  regulated 
by  art,  and  its  declivities  are  the  scene  of  the  latest  ornamented 
improvements  of  the  to'wn  and  bear  the  name  of  Mount  Vernon." 

"  The. hill  has  ever  been  a  favorite  resort  for  the  inhabitants 
of  Boston,  and  one  of  the  most  attractive  spots  for  the  visits  of 
strangers  :  the  views  are  considered  equal  to  those  most  cele- 
brated in  the  European  world.  But  the  erection  of  the  State 
House,  on  the  south  side,  and  several  dwelling  houses  on  the 
east,  having  circumscribed  the  prospect  ;  and  private  claimants 
having  by  course  of  law,  recovered  possession  of  all  but  the 
original  site  of  six  rods  square,  the  column  has  been  taken 
down,  and  the  hill  is  rapidly  digging  away  to  the  level  of  the 
foundation  of  the  State  House.  The  same  beautiful  views  are 
still  t)  be  seen  from  this  edifice,  but  the  curious  stranger  is 
obliged  to  ascend  to  the  cupola  above  the  dome,  to  enjoy  the 
whole  circuit  of  the  horizon." 


BEACON    HILL    MONUMENT.  07 

The  Beacon  had  stood  in  its  elevated  position,  watching  over 
the  town  below  it,  through  the  period  of  the  Revolutionary  war, 
until  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  and  had  witnessed  the 
splendid  entry  of  Washington  into  the  town,  after  his  first  elec- 
tion as  President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  on 
the  25th  of  October,  1789  ;  and  in  one  month  after,  on  the 
26th  of  November,  the  Beacon  having  outlived  its  usefulness, 
fell  to  the  earth  by  the  blast  of  the  storm.  It  was  never  again 
replaced,  although  the  summit  of  the  hill  remained  as  it  was 
left  when  the  British  fort  was  obliterated.  Its  fall,  as  announced 
in  the  newspapers  of  the  day,  very  naturally  attracted  the 
public  attention  to  the  hill,  and  most  probably  led  to  the  sugges- 
tion of  the  Monument,  which  was  the  next  year  built  upon 
its  summit. 

Mr.  Charles  Bulfinch,  (who  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1781, 
and  acquired  his  taste  for  architecture  while  superintending  the 
repairs  and  improvements  made  on  the  ill-used  and  dilapidated 
houses  in  Boston,  after  the  war,)  is  credited  with  having  first 
suggested  the  work.  He  had  just  returned  from  study  and 
travel  in  Europe,  when  the  Beacon  was  blown  down,  and  the 
same  year,  (1789.)  was  chosen  one  of  the  Selectmen  of  the 
town.  He  interested  himself,  as  very  naturally  he  would  do 
after  his  first  practice,  in  public  improvements  ;  and  it  is  said 
that  he  was  not  only  the  original  projector  of  the  Monument  on 
Beacon  Hill,  but*that  he  proposed  the  removal  of  the  Beacon 
before  it  was  blown  down,  for  the  purpose.  Another  statement 
is  that  immediately  after  the  fall  of  the  Beacon,  a  monument 
was  proposed  to  crown  the  famous  hill,  and  that  Mr.  Bulfinch, 
who  was  the  first  professional  architect  the  town  had  ever  had, 
furnished  the  design.     We  are  not  able  to  decide  between  these 


68  '   BEACON    HILL    MONUMEET. 

two  statements.  Mr.  Bulfinch  was  young  and  ambitious  in  his 
profession,  and  was  disposed  to  exercise  his  talents  in  the  embel- 
lishment of  the  town.  He  had  already  furnished  a  design 
for  a  public  theatre  and  had  taken  a  prominent  part  in  laying 
out  Franklin  Place,  and  had  placed  in  the  enclosure  therein  the 
Monumental  Urn,  which  he  imported  and  which  now  stands  on 
his  grave  in  Mount  Auburn  Cemetery.  So  that,  whether  he 
was  the  first  to  propose  the  monument  or  not,  he  no  doubt  took 
a  great  interest  in  its  erection,  and  probably  had  the  entire  su- 
perintendence of  the  work. 

Mr.  Bulfinch  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Selectmen  fcr 
twenty-two  years,  and  served  the  town  with  great  faithfulness 
and  benefit,  most  of  the  time  as  chairman  of  the  board.  He 
was  the  architect  of  the  new  State  House,  Court  House,  Fan- 
euil  Hall,  General  Hospital,  Asylum  for  the  Insane,  a  number 
of  the  churches,  banks,  insurance  buildings,  school  houses,  &c, 
in  Boston  and  other  towns ;  and  in  1817,  was  employed  as 
architect  to  finish  the  national  capitol  at  Washington.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  today  his  work  abundantly  shows  his  taste 
and  skill  in  his  profession. 

We  mention  these  particulars  in  Mr.  Bulfinch's  career,  for 
the  reason  that  he  was  in  different  ways  connected  with  the  his- 
tory and  use  of  Beacon  Hill  :  first,  in  the  design  and  erection 
of  the  Monument  ;  secondly,  in  the  design  and  building  of  the 
new  State  House,  and  thirdly,  in  the  filling  of  Charles  street 
from  its  western  elevations.  He  was  also  one  of  the  Selectmen 
when  Beacon  street  was  widened,  and  the  Mill-pond  filled 
up.  It  is  remarkable  that  in  Mr.  Bulfinch's  greatest  enter- 
prises —  Franklin  Place  and  Charles  street  —  he  was  financially 


BEACON    HILL    MONUMENT.  69 

unfortunate  —  and  not,   it  is  believed,  from  any  misjudgmcnts 
or  mistakes  of  his  own. 

The  Monument,  —  the  existence  of  which  is  remembered  by 
few  persons  of  the  present  day,  — was  commenced,  as  we  know, 
without  any  public  demonstration,  some  time  in  1790,  and  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  delayed  for  want  of  funds.  It  seems  a 
little  remarkable  at  this  time,  when  every  incident  that  may  be 
considered  news,  however  trifling,  in  which  the  public  are  sup- 
posed to  feel  any  interest,  gets  into  the  daily  newspaper,  that  no 
word  can  be  found  in  relation  to  the  building  of  this  exceedingly 
interesting  and  unique  monument  —  the  first  ever  erected  to 
commemorate  the  events  of  the  great  war  which  had  so  recently 
terminated.  No  mention  is  made,  that  we  have  been  able  to 
discover,  of  any  meeting  of  citizens  on  the  subject,  of  any  gen- 
eral subscription  for  the  object,  of  any  arrangement  for  laying 
the  corner-stone,  or  of  any  ceremonies  or  proceedings  in  its 
inauguration  —  not  even  to  the  extent  of  raising  a  flag  in  honor 
of  its  completion. 

The  announcement  of  the  building  of  the  Monument  was 
made  in  the  Massachusetts  Magazine,  for  December,  1790, 
as  follows  :  "The  column  which  has  lately  been  erected  on 
Beacon  Hill  by  the  subscriptions  of  a  number  of  inhabitants  of 
this  town,  is  a  plain  column  of  the  Doric  order,  raised  on  its 
proper  pedestal,  and  substantially  built  of  brick  and  stone.  On 
each  side  of  the  pedestal  is  an  inscription  adapted  to  render  the 
column  of  use  in  commemorating  the  leading  events  of  the 
American  Revolution,  as  well  as  an  ornament  to  the  hill  and 
a  useful  landmark. 

"  From  the  advanced  season  of  the  year  and  its  exposed  situa- 


70  BEACON    HILL   MONUMENT. 

tion,  it  has  been  found  impossible  to  complete  it  until  the  spring, 
when  it  will  be  encrusted  with  a  white  cement,  and  a  large 
Eagle  of  wood,  gilt,  supporting  the  American  arms,*  is  to  be 
placed  above." 

The  inscription  upon  one  of  the  tablets,  which  have  been  pre- 
served with  reasonable  care,  declares  that  the  Monument  was 
erected  by  the  "  voluntary  contributions  of  the  citizens  of  Bos- 
ton," but  we  have  been  unable  to  ascertain  who  were  the  con- 
tributors, or  how  general  a  subscription  was  made.f  It  would 
seem  as  if  there  must  have  been  a  building  committee,  or  some 
organized  body,  and  probably  a  treasurer,  but  we  have  found 
no  account  of  their  doings.  The  whole  work,  we  conclude,  was 
left  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Bulfinch.  We  can  have  no  doubt,  how- 
ever, as  to  the  principal  contributors  to  the  patriotic  work  ;  and 
it  may  appear,  possibly  from  personal  considerations,  that  they 
declined  to  take  any  part  in  its  erection  or  consecration.  This 
entire  absence  of  ceremonv  or  public  display,  in  a  matter  of  so 
much  interest  to  themselves,  and  of  such  intimate  historical  re- 
lations with  the  town,  (if  our  suggestion  shall  be  justified)  pre- 
sents the  character  of  the  early  defenders  of  the  rights  of  the 
colony  and  the  liberties  of  the  people,  in  an  honorable  light. 

*  These  were  not  included  in  the  structure. 

t  Mr.  Alden  Bradford,  in  a  biographical  sketch  of  Thomas  Russell,  pub- 
lished in  Hunt's  Merchants'  Magazine,  vol.  i.,  1839,  says,  "  Mr.  Russell  was 
benevolent,  liberal  and  public  spirited,  in  a  degree  equalled  by  very  few  of  his 
contemporaries,  or  of  those  who  have  lived  since  his  time.  Mr.  Russell  was 
one  of  the  contributors  to  the  monument  on  Beacon  Hill,  (now  taken  down,) 
which  bore  an  inscription  of  the  great  events  of  the  revolution  " 

Mr.  Puissell  was  a  native  of  Charlestown,  and  one  of  the  distinguished  mer- 
chants of  Boston,  in  1775-6.  He  died  in  1796,  at  the  age  of  56.  He  lost  a 
large  part  of  his  property  in  the  burning  of  Charlestown,  in  1775,  and  then 
removed  to  Boston  with  his  business. 


BEACON    HILL   MONUMENT.  71 

DIMENSIONS     OF     THE     MONUMENT. 

These  Dimensions  of  the  Monument  are  copied  from  a  man- 
uscript which  was  found  among  the  papers  of  Governor  Bow- 
doin,  who  was  probably  one  of  the  principal  contributors  to  the 
work  and  died  (November,  1790)  before  it  was  completed  : — 

Stone  plinth  to  support  the  whole, 

Moulding  of  pedestal, 

Die  of  pedestal, 

Column,         .... 

Block  upon  the  column, 

Eagle  in  height, 

Total  height,         . .         .         .         57  feet. 


Diam. 

Height. 

8  feet, 

5  feet. 

7    " 

5.4 

10    " 

4  feet, 

33    " 

3   '" 

4    " 

5    " 

INSCRIPTIONS    UPON     THE     TABLETS. 

The  inscriptions  placed  upon  the  tablets  in  this  monument, 
for  the  most  part,  are  merely  chronological,  and  are  singularly 
felicitous,  we  judge,  in  simplicity,  directness  and  freedom  from 
anything  laudatory  either  of  pensons  or  events.  Three  names 
only  appear  among  the  inscriptions,  viz :  those  of  Washington, 
Hancock  and  Bowdoin ;  and  there  appear  to  be  better  reasons  for 
this  selection  than  might  at  first  appear  :  Hancock,  as  Presi- 
dent of  Congress,  was  the  head  of  the  embryo  government,  when 
the  Colonies  dissolved  their  relations  with  England  and  declared 
their  independence  ;  Washington  was  at  the  head  of  the  ar- 
mies of  the  country ;  and  in  Massachusetts.  Bowdoin  presided 
over  the  Convention  which  formed  the  Constitution  of  the  Com- 
monwealth. There  were  many,  perhaps,  but  no  other  single 
name  that  could  be  added  to  these,   in  Massachusetts.      Sam 


72  BEACON    HILL    MONUMENT. 

Adams  was  unquestionably  the  great  revolutionist  of  the  coun- 
try :  daring,  bold  and  uncompromising  ;  high  toned,  high  prin- 
cipled ;  comprehensive  in  his  views,  indomitable  in  his  energies, 
•nexhaustible  in  his  resources  ;  immovable  in  his  convictions, 
unflinching  in  his  purpose,  never  erring  in  his  judgment,  and  the 
very  embodiment  of  logical  power.  His  name,  if  any,  might 
have  been  placed  at  the  head  of  the  monument ;  but  it  was  not 
needed  there,  nor,  as  the  people  appear  to  have  decided,  on 
any  monument  of  perishable  material. 


Tablet  on  the  South  side. 


TO  •  COMMEMORATE 

THAT • TRAIN  ■  OF ■ EVENTS 

WHICH  •  LED 

TO  •  THE  •  AMERICAN  •  REVOLUTION 

AND  •  FINALLY  •  SECURED 

LIBERTY  •  AND  •  INDEPENDENCE 

TO  •  THE  •  UNITED  ■  STATES  ■ 

THIS  •  COLUMN  ■  IS  ■  ERECTED 

BY  •  THE  •  VOLUNTARY  •  CONTRIBUTIONS 

OF  •  THE  •  CITIZENS 

OF  ■  BOSTON 

MDCCXC. 


*The  inscription  on  this  Tabiet  is  a  simple  and  direct  statement  of  the  pur- 
pose of  the  monument,  viz.  to  commemorate  "  Events  ;"  and  yet,  by  some  sin- 
gular hallucination,  it  would  seem,  in  a  recent  historical  volume,  it  is  stated  on 
the  same  page  with  the  inscription,  that  it  was  erected  "  to  commemorate  those 
who  fell  at  Bunker  Hill."  Another  recent  less  pretentious  volume,  after  men- 
tioning the  murders  at  Lexington,  on  19th  of  April,  says  the  fight,  at  Concord 
took  place  the  next  day  ! 


BEACON   HILL   MONUMENT.  73 

Tablet  on  the  North  Side.* 


Stamp  Act  passed  1765.      Repealed  1766. 

Board  of   Customs  established  1767. 

British  troops  fired  on  the  Inhabitants  of    Boston 

March  5  1770. 

Tea  Act  passed  1773. 

Tea  destroyed  in  Boston  Decern:  16 

Port  of  Boston  shut  and  guarded  June  1.  1774. 

General  Congress  at  Philadelphia  Sept :  4. 

Provincial  Congress  at  Concord  Oct :  11. 

Battle  of  Lexington  April  19.  1775. 

Battle  of   Bunker  Hill  June  17. 

Washington  took  command  of    the  Army  July  2. 

Boston  Evacuated  March  17.  1776. 

Independance  declared  by  Congress  July  4.  1776. 

Hancock  President. 


*  Dr.  Shurtleff  and  others,  locate  this  tablet  on  the  West  side  of  the  Mon- 
ument ;  but  we  have  two  mamiscript  copies  of  the  inscriptions,  one  from  the 
papers  of  Governor  Bowdoin,  which  is  inscribed  "  Inscriptions  for  the  Column 
on  Beacon  Hill,"  and  the  other  from  the  papers  of  the  late  Benjamin  Gleaion, 
copied  from  the  Monument  by  him,  both  of  which  mention  this  as  the  tablet  on 
the  North  side. 


74  BEACON   HILL   MONUMENT. 


Tablet  on  the  West  Side* 


Capture  of  Hessians  at  Trenton  Dec :  26.  1776. 

Capture  of  Hessians  at  Bennington  Aug  :  16.  1777. 

Capture  of  British  Army  at  Saratoga  Oct :  17. 

Alliance  with  France   Feb:  6.  1778. 

Confederation  of  United  States  formed  July  9. 

Constitution  of  Massachusetts  formed  1780. 

Bowdoin  President  of  Convention. 

Capture  of  British  Army  at  York   Oct :  19.  1781. 

Prelimenaries  of  Peace  Nov  :  30.  1782. 

Definitive  Treaty  of  Peace    Sept :  10.  1783. 

Federal  Constitution  formed   Sept :  17.  1787. 

and  ratified  by  the  United  States  1787  to.  1790. 

New  Congress  assembled  at  New  York  April.  6.  1780. 

Washington  inaugurated  President  April  30. 

Public  Debts  funded  Aug  :  4.  1790. 


*  This  Tablet  is  generally  placed  in  all  the  printed  notices  of  the  monument, 
on  the  North  side,  but  we  place  it  on  the  West  side,  according  to  the  manu- 
script authorities  mentioned. 


BEACON    HILL    MONUMENT. 


75 


Tablet  on  the  East  Side. 


•  AMERICANS  • 

WHILE  •  FROM  •  THIS  ■  EMINENCE 

SCENES  •  OF  •  LUXURIANT  •  FERTILITY 

OF  •  FLOURISHING  •  COMMERCE 

&  •  THE  •  ABODES  ■  OF  ■  SOCIAL  •  HAPPINESS 

MEET  •  YOUR  ■  VIEW 

FORGET  •  NOT  ■  THOSE 

WHO  •  BY  •  THEIR  ■  EXERTIONS* 

HAVE  •  SECURED  ■  TO  ■  YOU 

THESE  •  BLESSINGS. 


We  are  obliged  to  say  that  the  authorship  of  these  appropri- 
ate and  comprehensive  inscriptions  is  among  the  unknown  things 
regarding  this  monument.  Dr.  Shurtleff  says,  in  his  paper 
on  the  subject,  published  in  1865,  that  Judge  Dawes  had 
the  reputation  of  being  the  author  of  them  :  and  the  Rev.  Ste- 
phen G.  Bulfmch,  in  a  paper  prepared  for  the  Boston  Society 
of  Architects,  in  1869,  asserts  that  his  father  suggested  the 
monument,  "for  which  he  gave  the  design  and  furnished  the 
inscriptions."  He  does  not  notice  the  previous  statement  made 
by  Dr.  Shurtleff,  or  give  any  reasons,  or  state  any  facts,  in  sup- 
port of  his  own  opinion.  It  has  been  thought  also  by  some  that 
the  inscriptions  were  furnished  by  Gov.  Bowdoin,  who  certainly 
had  a  very  early  copy  of  them  among  his  papers.      Some  fur- 


76  BEACON    HILL   MONUMENT. 

ther  evidence  seems  to  be  necessary  before  the  matter  can  be  de- 
cided and  the  honor  awarded  to  whom  it  belongs. 

The  Tablets  are  of  slate,  3  feet  6  by  4  feet  6  in  size  ;  and 
the  cutting  of  the  inscriptions,  —  a  work  of  extraordinary  labor 
—  is  done  with  remarkable  skill  and  correctness,  fully  equal  to 
similar  work  of  the  present  day.  The  inscriptions  on  the  south 
and  east  tablets  are  cut  in  capital  letters,  as  here  printed  ;  the 
other  two  in  lower  case,  old  style  letters.  There  are  two  errors 
in  orthography,  in  the  words  "  prelimenaries"  and  "  Independ- 
ence,"  and  the  rules  of  punctuation  are  quite  disregarded  ;  but 
none  of  these  faults,  according  to  Governor  Bowdoin's  copy,  are 
chargeable  to  the  workmen.* 

With  regard  to  the  correctness  of  the  inscriptions,  it  is  to  be 
observed  that  the  Tea  was  destroyed  on  the  night  of  the  16th 
December,  often  considered  17th  ;  that  the  General  Congress 
at  Philadelphia  met  on  5th  of  September,  the  4th  being  Sun- 
day ;  and  that  Gen.  Washington  arrived  at  Cambridge  on  the 
2d  of  July  (Sunday)  and  assumed  command  on  the  3d.  He 
reached  Watertown  on  the  1st,  and  the  address  of  Congress  to 
him  is  included  in  the  proceedings  of  that  date. 

The  Monument  was  built  in  the  same  year  that  the  last  one 
of  the  original  thirteen  Colonies,  (Rhode  Island),  adopted  the 
Constitution,  (May  1790,)  a  few  weeks  before  the  commence- 
ment of  the  work.  The  Monument  was  enclosed  "by  a  fence 
of  rails,  in  front  of  which  were  benches  for  the  accommodation 
of  those  who  ascend  the  hill." 


*  One  slight  error  occurs  in  our  own  print,  on  page  72  :  for  "  contribu- 
tions" read  "  contribution."  In  our  manuscript  copies  the  word  stands  as  on 
the  tablet,  in  the  singular  number. 


THE  MONUMENT  — NEW  STATE  HOUSE. 


CHAPTER   X. 

The  first  public  monument  of  the  revolution —  Should  have  been  respected  and 
preserved  —  The  New  State  House  contemplated  by  Gov.  Hancock —  Lay- 
ing the  corner-stone  by  the  Grand  Lodge  —  Inscription  on  the  plate  — En- 
largement of  the  building  —  Its  unrivalled  location  —  Extract  from  the 
journal  of  a  visitor  —  "  Beacon  Hill :  a  local  poem." 

The  promptitude  with  which  this  work  was  undertaken  and 
completed  bj  the  public  spirited  and  patriotic  citizens  of  Bosttn, 
who  had  contributed  so  largely  to  the  initiation  and  success  of 
the  American  revolution,  was  characteristic  of  the  activities  of 
the  times.  It  was  the  first  public  memorial  of  that  great  event, 
and  occupied  the  historic  eminence  of  the  town.  Its  position 
was  elevated  and  grand  ;  it  was  visible  from  long  distances 
around  the  town,  was  an  object  of  abiding  interest  with  the  peo- 
ple and  the  especial  attraction  to  strangers  when  visiting  the 
place.  It  loomed  up  in  the  landscape,  an  ornament  to  the  high- 
est point  of  the  Tri-mountain,  and  was  not  merely  a  landmark, 
but  a  durable  record  of  the  history  of  wrongs  attempted  and 
rights  redressed  and  secured  in  the  interest  of  posterity.  It 
marked  as  well  the  public  spirit  and  generosity  of  the  inhabi- 


78  THE   NEW    STATE   HOUSE. 

tants  of  Boston  as  their  patriotism,  indomitable  zeal  and  self- 
sacrificing  spirit  in  the  cause  of  the  country  and  freedom. 

Such  a  structure,  so  conceived  and  so  intended,  should  have 
been  respected  and  preserved  for  the  great  cause  it  represented  ; 
and  it  may  well  be  believed  the  people  beheld  with  great  dissat- 
isfaction the  final  disposition  of  the  hill  which  had  given  its  fa- 
miliar and  historic  name  to  the  town  and  supported  the  first 
patriotic  memorial  of  the  struggle  for  liberty  and  independence. 
The  erection  of  the  New  State  House,  in  1795-6,  though  still 
further  adding  to  its  ornament,  determined  the  fate  of  the  hill 
in  the  future  :  there  was  no  hope  of  saving  it,  had  it  been  per- 
manently desirable,  after  this  appropriation  of  Governor  Han- 
cock's pasture.  The  New  State  House  had  been  contemplated 
for  some  years  before  its  erection,  by  Governor  Hancock,  who 
lived  on  the  estate  while  he  held  the  gubernatorial  office  ;  and 
it  was  his  intention,  as  we  now  know,  by  a  will  which  he  was 
not  able  to  execute,  to  have  left  to  the  State  that  portion  of  it 
which  it  now  occupies.  He  was  the  first  Governor  of  the  Com- 
monwealth after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  in  1780,  and 
held  the  office  (from  1780  to  '85,  four  years,  and  from  1787  to 
October  '93,  nearly  six  years)  for  nearly  ten  years,  and  was 
succeeded  in  his  last  term  by  his  distinguished  co-patriot,  Samuel 
Adams.  Governor  Bowdoin  held  the  office  for  two  years  (1785 
and  '86)  between  the  terms  of  Hancock^  It  is  impossible  that 
either  of  these  gentlemen  could  have  failed  to  perceive  the  ne- 
cessity for  a  new  State  House  in  a  more  eligible  position  than 
the  existing  edifice,  during  his  term  of  office. 

The  corner-stone  of  the  New  State  House  was  laid  with  pub- 
lic ceremonies  on  the  fourth  of  July,  1795,  in  which  the  author- 
ities of  the  State  and  Town  united  in  a  grand  procession,  or- 


THE   NEW   STATE   HOUSE.  79 

ganized  by  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Masons  in  Massachusetts.  The 
procession  was  escorted  by  the  Independent  Fusileers  and  was 
chiefly  composed  of  the  Masonic  bodies,  the  State  and  town  au- 
thorities, the  clergy,  strangers  of  distinction  and  citizens.  One 
of  the  prominent  features  in  the  procession  was  ■  ■  The  corner- 
stone, on  a  truck,  decorated  with  ribbons,  drawn  by  fifteen  white 
horses,  each  with  a  leader."  The  inscription  upon  the  plate  de- 
posited under  the  stone  was  as  follows  : 

"This  corner-stone  of  a  building  intended  for  the  use  of  the 
Legislature  and  Executive  Branches  of  the  Government  of  the 
Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts,  was  laid  by  His  Excellency 
Samuel  Adams,  Esq.,  Governor  of  said  Commonwealth,  assisted 
by  the  M.  W.  Paul  Revere,  Grand  Master,  and  the  R.  W.  Win. 
Scollay,  Deputy  Grand  Master,  the  Grand  Wardens  and  Breth- 
ren of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Massachusetts,  on  the  4th  day  of  July, 
An.  Dom.  1795.  A.  L.  5795,  being  the  20th  anniversary  of 
American  Independence."     Charles  Bulfinch  was  the  architect. 

In  1855,  when  the  State  House  was  repaired  and  enlarged  on 
the  north  side,  it  was  found  necessary  to  provide  a  new  corner- 
stone, under  which  the  old  plate  was  deposited.  The  ceremony 
was  performed  by  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Massachusetts,  as  before, 
and  the  following  inscription  was  borne  upon  the  new  plate  : 

"  The  corner-stone  of  the  capitol  having  been  removed  in  con- 
sequence of  alteration  and  additions  to  the  building,  the  origi- 
nal deposit,  together  with  this  inscription,  is  replaced  by  the 
Most  Worshipful  Winslow  Lewis,  M.  D.,  Grand  Master,  and 
other  officers  and  Brethren  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Massachu- 
setts,  in  presence  of  His  Excellency  Henry  J.  Gardner,  Gover- 
nor of  the  Commonwealth  on  the  11th  day  of  August,  A.  D. 
1855,  A.  L.  5855." 


80  CHARMS    OF   BEACON   HILL. 

Certainly  nothing  could  be  objected  to  the  location  of  this 
noble  and  handsome  structure,  whatever  the  consequences  should 
be  to  the  hill.  It  was  admirable  in  all  respects  and  remains  so 
today  although  encompassed  by  buildings.  It  is  almost  unri- 
valled in  position  :  standing  nearly  in  the  centre  of  the  city, 
overlooking  the  harbor  and  surrounding  country,  fronting  the 
open  common  and  commanding  from  its  cupola  the  grand  pano- 
rama of  land  and  water,  town,  village  and  distant  mountain, 
which  had  given  so  much  celebrity  to  the  hill  in  its  early  his- 
tory. It  stands  today,  with  its  golden  dome,  more  conspicuous 
and  attractive  than  ever,  and  as  no  effort  could  save  the  historic 
hill,  it  fully  compsnsates  its  loss. 

The  hill  and  the  monument  are  mentioned  in  the  Journal  of 
Nathaniel  Cutting,  who  visited  Boston,  in  1792,  as  follows  : 

"  September  4.  Took  a  stroll  on  Beacon  Hill,  from  the  sum- 
mit whereof  one  may  behold  the  most  variegated  and  luxuriant 
scenery  that  nature  and  art  combined  present  through  her  ex- 
tensive works.  Our  friends  did  not  fail  to  express  their  admi- 
ration of  the  delightful  prospect,  and  to  declare  that  neither  in 
Europe  nor  in  any  other  part  of  America,  did  they  ever  enjoy 
so  charming  a  view.  We  found  fault  with  the  ridiculous  Obe- 
lisk [?],  if  such  the  thing  may  be  called,  which  is  placed  on  the 
highest  point  of  the  hill  by  'way  of  ornament  :  it  puts  one  in 
mind  of  a  farthing  candle  placed  in  a  large  candle-stick  upon 
the  altar  of  some  Roman  Catholic  Chapel." 

The  commendation  of  the  scenery  from  Beacon  Hill  in  this 
extract  is  respectful  and  proper  ;  but  the  remarks  concerning 
the  monument,  which  was  in  no  sense  an  obelisk,  but  a  hand- 
some Doric  column,  are  exceedingly  absurd. 


"beacon  hill  — a  local  poem."  ,81 

The  party  afterwards  visited  the  Craigie  summer*  house  in 
Cambridge,  and  the  writer  says.  "  I  think  I  may  safely  assert 
that  after  Beacon  Hill,  in  Boston,  this  spot  presents  the  most 
beautiful,  extensive  and  variegated  landscape  in  the  world." 

There  was  published  at  Boston,  in  1797,  by  Manning  &  Lor- 
ing\  a  thin  quarto  volume  entitled,  "  Beacon  Hill.  A  local  po- 
em. Historic  and  descriptive,  Book  I.  Published  according  to 
act  of  Congress."  It  was  sent  forth  anonymously,  but  was  the 
production  of  Sarah  Wentworth  Morton,*  and  is  by  no  means 
without  merit.  It  is  perhaps  remarkable  that  in  the  work  itself 
excepting  on  the  title-page,  the  name  of  Beacon  Hill  does  not 
occur  ;  and  although  published  seven  years  after  the  completion 
of  the  monument  to  commemorate  the  deeds  of  the  heroes  spoken 
of  or  alluded  to  in  the .  poem,  not  the  slightest  allusion  is  made 
to  that  work.  In  the  author's  "  Apology  for  the  Poem,"  the 
lady  says : — 

"lam  aware  it  may  be  objected  to  the  production  which  as- 
sumes the  title  of  Beacon  Hill,  that  the  appellation  is  not  suffi- 
ciently appropriate,  and  that  twenty  other  names  would  equally 
apply  to  those  conspicuous  features  which  the  author  has  at- 
tempted to  delineate.     True  —  but 

"  What's  in  a  name  ?     That  which  we  call  a  Rose 
By  any  other  name  would  smell  as  sweet." 

"If  the  performance  has  merit,  the  name,  as  it  does  not  im- 
ply an  absurdity,  will  not,  it  is  presumed,  create  an  objection  ; 
or  if,  in  concurrence  with  the  fears  of  its  author,   the  whole  is 


*  In  1778,  Perez  Morton  married  Sarah  Wentworth  Apthorp,  at  Quincy, 
and  Paine  speaks  of  her  as  the  American  Sappho. 


82  .  mrs.  morton's  poem. 

consigned  to  hopeless  oblivion  —  By  any  other  name  the  thing 
would  sink  as  low. 

"  Yet  when  it  is  remembered,  that  the  great  events  which 
form  the  substance  of  the  piece,  originated  within  the  view  of 
this  interesting  eminence,  the  mind,  by  the  natural  association 
of  ideas,  will  be  easily  led  to  contemplate  every  succeeding  oc- 
currence of  the  Revolution." 

The  remainder  of  the  "apology"  is  mainly  personal  to  the 
writer.  The  opening  passage  of  the  poem  is  the  only  portion 
that  refers  to  Beacon  Hill,  descriptive  of  the  scenery  from  its 
summit,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"  Far  from  this  spot,  ye  light  delusions,  fly, 

While  tix'd  Attention  lifts  her  boundless  eye, 

O'er  Bunker's  field  each  hallow 'd  view  explores, 

Sees  the  twin-rivers  lave  the  purple  shores, 

Where  the  high  soil  disdain'd  the  trembling  flood. 

And  stain'd  the  white  wave  with  Britannia's  blood. 

Unwearying  change  the  sacred  scene  displays 

Pillar'd  with  hills,  that  fling  the  morning  rays, 

And  glass'd  with  streams,  that  through  the  twilight  glade 

Reflect  the  reddening  skies  and  broider'd  shade  ; 

Here  the  light  scyons'  wavy  beauties  flow, 

And  seem  a  plumage  on  the  mountain's  brow  ; 

There  the  proud  dome  o'erlooks  the  distant  mead, 

Where  the  blue  Mystic  lifts  his  sparkling  head, 

Ceres  in  smiles  her  liberal  treasure  yields, 

And  waves  of  gold  enrich  the  floating  fields." 


BEACON    HILL    SPRINGS. 


CHAPTER    XI. 


Blackstone's  Spring  —  The  Great  Spring  in  Spring  Lane  —  Springate  —  Mount 
Vernon  Springs — Spring  in  Howard  Street  —  Theory  of  Dr.  Lathrop 
concerning  the  Beacon  Hill  Springs  —  Observations  on  the  well  at  the 
State  House  —  On  the  sources  and  supply  of  the  Springs. 

One  of  the  marked  and  peculiar  features  of  Beacon  Hill,  in 
early  times,  was  its  fresh  water  springs,  which  appear  to  have 
flowed  from  all  sides  of  it,  and  to  some  extent  do  so  still.  That 
known  as  Blackstone's  Spring,  which  was  located  in  what  is 
now  Louisbourg  Square,  said  to  have  been  near  the  centre 
of  the  present  grass  plot,  was  one  of  the  most  celebrated,  and 
Dr.  Shurtleff  says  was  that  which  induced  Gov.  Winthrop  and 
his  company  to  remove  from  Charlestown  in  1630  ;  but  this  does 
not  seem  probable,  since  it  was  in  the  westerly  part  of  the  pen- 


84  BEACON    HILL    SPRINGS. 

insula  and  far  from  the  settlement  made  by  them :  it  was  there- 
fore practically  useless  for  their  purposes.  The  great  spring, 
whether  it  be  considered  as  coming  'from  Beacon  Hill  or  not, 
and  that  which  became  historical,  as  well  as  useful,  was  that  in 
Spring  Lane,  which  was  within  the  settlement.  This  was  en- 
closed at  an  early  period  with  a  fence  and  gate  and  was  known 
probably  for  more  than  a.  century  as  Springate.  When  the 
spring  became  weakened  by  the  digging  of  wells  above  it, 
a  pump  was  put  into  the  enclosure,  and  this  was  in  use  until 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  nearly  two  hundred  years 
after  the  settlement  of  the  town.  On  the  erection  of  the  present 
post-office  building  on  Devonshire  street,  near  the  foot  of  Spring 
Lane,  the  spring  again  appeared  in  the  cellar,  this  time  to  the 
annoyance  of  the  workmen,  and  is  still  flowing,  though  its  use- 
fulness has  been  superceded.  Blackstone's  Spring  was  also  used 
in  modern  times,  according  to  Shurtleff,  and  one  farther  to  the 
west,  mentioned  by  Dearborn  as  on  the  hill  "  directly  opposite 
Charles  street  meeting  house,"  which  is  described  as  "a  boiling 
spring,  open  in  three  places,  at  about  80  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  water."  This  spring  must  have  been  west  or  northwest 
of  Blackstone's,  and  higher  up  the  hill,  and  is  probably  the  one 
which  Dr.  Shurtleff  mentions  as  having  been  used  for  many 
years  by  the  colored  people  in  that  section  of  the  town  for  wash- 
ing clothes  and  other  purposes. 

There  was  also  a  prominent  spring  on  the  northeast  slope  of 
the  hill,  situated  in  Howard  street,  on  the  spot  occupied  by  the 
Howard  Theatre,  and  this  is  said  to  be  still  in  use. 

The  remarkable  thing  about  some  of  these  springs,  and  that 
in  the  well  at  the  State  House,   is  their  height  above  tide- 


BEACON    HILL   SPRINGS.  85 

water,  or  any  known  source  of  supply  within  the  limits  of  the 
peninsula. 

Dr.  John  Lathrop,  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  American  Academy, 
in  the  year  1800,  after  the  State  House  was  built,  says,  "  on  the 
north  as  well  as  on  the  south  side  of  Beacon  Hill,  and  on  the 
range  of  high  ground  connected  with  it,  many  springs  are  found 
and  some  of  them  seem  to  be  inexhaustible.  *  *  *  The  water 
is  of  an  excellent  quality,  *  *  *  and  from  the  elevation  of 
the  ground  the  water  might  be  sent  in  refreshing  streams  to 
the  greatest  part  of  the  town  ;  but  while  this  comfort  is  quite 
at  command,  it  has  hitherto  been  neglected.  *  *  *  It"  is  to 
be  hoped  these  hills  will  be  regarded  with  a  kind  of  religious 
respect,  and  that  the  municipal  authority  will  never  suffer  their 
venerable  heads  to  be  brought  low."  This,  as  has  been  seen, 
the  municipal  authorities  have  been  unable  to  prevent. 

Notwithstanding  the  existence  of  these  springs  on  different 
sides  of  the  hill,  'the  well  to  supply  the  State  House  with  water 
was  carried  to  the  depth  of  ninety-six  feet,  commencing  as  stat- 
ed, at  a  point  thirty-five  feet  below  the  top  of  the  hill.  As 
the  hill  was  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  feet  six  inches  above 
the  level  of  the  sea,  the  bottom  of  the  well  was  seven  feet  six 
inches  above  the  same  level.  "  No  spring  was  found  in  any 
of  the  strata  until  the  workmen  entered  on  the  last.  After  dig- 
ging a  foot,  or  a  foot  and  a  half  in  the  last  stratum  (the  tenth), 
the  bottom  became  so  soft  and  the  water  came  in  so  fast,  that 
the  workmen  were  obliged  to  desist."* 

From  observations  made  by  Dr.  Lathrop  it  appeared  that  the 
depth  of  water  in  the  well  varied  with  the  rise  and  fall  of  the 

*  Memoirs  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  vol.  iii. 


86  BEACON   HILL   SPRINGS. 

tides  in  the  harbor  :  on  the  10th  of  October,  1797,  at  low  wa- 
ter, it  was  7  feet  11  inches  deep  ;  the  next  day  at  high  water, 
8  feet  11  inches.  In  July  1798,  high  water,  fall  moon,  it  was 
12  feet  5  inches :  the  surface  of  the  water  at  this  time  being-  19 
feet  11  inches  above  the  sea  level.  In  illustration  of  his  subject 
Dr.  Lathrop  presents  a  diagram,  showing  the  springs  in  the  hill 
and  arguing  that  they  are  supplied  from  some  pond  in  the  inte- 
rior whose  waters  are  making  their  way  to  the  ocean  under  the 
ground.  From  this  diagram  we  copy  the  accompanying  profile 
of  the  hill  and  quote  some  portions  of  the  paper  : 

"  On  this  peninsula  are  what  I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  call- 
ing the  tipper  and  nether  springs.  *  *  The  nether  springs 
are  those  which  are  found  under  a  body  of  clay,  from  80  to  120 
feet  deep.  *  *  The  sources  cannot  be  found  in  the  peninsula. 
*  *  Beacon  Hill  is  only  138  feet  and  a  half  high,  and  its 
shape  is  such  that  the  vapours  which  are  attracted  to  it,  and  the 
rains  which  fall  upon  it,  must  run  quickly  down  its  steep  sides 
to  the  sea.  *  *  No  reservoir  can  be  found  in  the  hills  on 
the  peninsula  sufficient  to  raise  the  water  in  the  wells  75  or  80 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  *  *  Under  the  stratum  of 
clay,  generally  more  than  100  feet  thick,  which  is  found  in  all 
the  low  parts  of  the  town,  there  are  waters,  either  in  veins  of 
sand  or  gravel,  or  in  currents,  passing  continually  to  the  sea. 
"Whenever  these  veins  or  currents  are  opened  by  the  spade  or 
augur  of  the  well  digger,  water  is  forced  up  with  violence,  and 
in  some  cases  flows  over  the  ground.  As  reservoirs  are  not  to 
be  found  on  the  peninsula,  sufficient  to  supply  the  springs,  and 
to  raise  the  water  in  the  wrells  so  much  above  the  sea,  where 
shall  we  look  for  them  ?  I  believe  we  must  look  into  the  coun- 
try.   *    *    The  ponds  at  the  northward,  at  the  west  and  south- 


BEACON    HILL    SPRINGS,  87 

ward,  have  a  sufficient  elevation,  and  as  reservoirs,  contain 
quantities  of  water,  sufficient  to  furnish  innumerable  springs  be- 
tween them  and  the  sea.  Let  us  suppose  that  under  some  pond, 
several  miles  from  Boston,  there  is  placed  a  stratum  of  clay, 
which  serves  as  a  basin  to  prevent  the  water  from  sinking  into 
the  earth,  and  that  next  to  the  stratum  of  clay  there  is  a  vein  of 
gravel,  and  over  that  clay  again,  or  hard  earth,  (as  we  find 
strata  commonly  disposed,)  and  we  may  conceive  of  a  complete 
acqueduct  from  the  pond  to  the  sea.  *  *  In  the  drawing  an- 
nexed [of  which  we  give  only  the  Beacon  Hill  portion]  the  pond 
and  stratum  of  gravel  between  strata  of  clay,  may  be  considered 
as  one  leg  of  an  inverted  syphon  :  the  well  dug  in  the  side  of 
the  hill,  and  which  just  enters  the  water,  may  be  considered  as 
the  other  leg.  The  pressure  on  ihe  pond  would  raise  the  water 
in  the  well  to  the  same  level,  if  the  syphon  was  complete.  *  * 
On  the  preceding  principles  we  easily  account  for  the  ebbing  and 
flowing  of  the  water  in  wells  near  the  sea.  The  pressure  of  the 
tide  against  the  mouths  of  the  subterranean  acqueduct  will  pre- 
vent for  a  time  the  passage  of  the  water  ;  of  course  the  water 
will  rise  in  the  wells,  which  are  supplied  by  those  acqueducts. 
When  the  tide  falls,  the  water  will  fall  in  the  wells  situated  as 
now  supposed.  Thus  does  the  Almighty  '•  send  waters  into  the 
vallies,  which  run  among  the  hills  ;  they  go  up  by  the  moun- 
tains, they  go  down  by  the  vallies,  unto  the  place  which  is  ap- 
pointed for  them." 

Besides  those  already  mentioned,  it  is  said  some  of  the  Mount 
Vernon  springs  are  still  flowing  on  premises  in  that  neighbor- 
hood, which  they  will  probably  continue  to  do,  as  the  use  of 
wells  has  been  wholly  discontinued  in  the  city. 


OO  BEACON    HILL    SPRINGS. 

It  is  stated  that  the  original  name  of  the  peninsula,  which 
was  Shawmut,  signifies  a  place  of  "  living  fountains."  It  is 
pretty  evident  that  numerous  springs  underlie  the  peninsula  in 
all  directions,  as  there  has  never  been  any  deficiency  of  water 
obtainable  by  means  of  wells,  even  in  those  portions  of  the  city 
redeemed  from  the  waters  of  the  harbor.  When  the  South  Cove 
was  filled  up  in  1834-7,  fifty-six  acres  of  which  were  originally 
covered  by  the  tides,  five  artesian  wells  were  sunk  on  the  prem- 
ises, "all  of  which,"  it  was  said,  "furnished  an  inexhaustible 
supply  of  good  soft  water."  About  1841-2,  an  artesian  well 
was  sunk  at  East  Boston,  at  the  end  of  the  wharf  occupied  by 
the  Cunarcl  Steamships,  near  the  edge  of  the  channel,  and  good 
water  obtained,  liable  to  be  a  little  brackish.  It  was  stated  some 
years  ago  that  the  digging  of  a  well  at  Charlestown  cut  off  the 
water  from  two  wells  on  Copp's  Hill,  in  Boston,  probably  only 
for  a  short  time. 

The  small  vessels  on  the  right  of  the  engraving  represent  the 
sea  level.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  profile  or  section  of  the 
hill  in  the  diagram,  very  nearly  resembles  the  view  of  the  hill 
taken  from  Snow's  History  of  Boston. 


OWNERSHIP  OF  BEACON    HILL. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

The  fate  of  Beacon  Hill — Its  value  as  a  gravel  bank  and  as  real  estate  —  Its 
first  owner  —  Division  of  the  land  and  future  ownership  —  Col.  Shrimp- 
ton —  John  Yeamans  —  Its  use  as  a  cow  pasture  —  Its  principal  divis- 
ions —  The  easterly  portion  —  Hancock  mansion  —  Decease  of  Thomas 
Hancock  and  his  widow — Inheritance  of  John  Hancock — Final  division 
of  the  property  —  Naming  the  streets  —  Sale  of  the  monument  lot  by  the 
town —  Celebrated  law  case  :  Thurston  vs.  Hancock  and  another. 

The  fate  of  Beacon  Hill,  if  not  foretold  by  the  failure  of  the 
town  to  stop  the  work  of  Thomas  Hodson,  in  1764,  was  as  we 
have  already  intimated,  determined  by  the  erection  of  the  State 
House.  The  erection  of  the  monument,  with  all  its  patriotic 
associations,  could  not  save  it.  In  fact,  singular  as  it  may  ap- 
pear, it  soon  became  in  a  two  fold  sense,  too  valuable  to  save 
had  the  desire  to  do  so  been  even  stronger  than  it  was  :  it  was 
more  valuable  as  a  gravel  bank  than  it  was  as  a  cow  pasture, 
and  soon  became  property.  Some  early  grants  to  settlers  had 
been  made  on  its  slopes,  but  these  probably  did  not  reach  the 
summit,  which  the  town  had  appropriated  and  which  alone  it 
held.  For  more  than  a  century  it  was  common  land,  open  to 
anybody's  cows,  as  was  the  Common  for  nearly  a  century  after- 
wards, and  the  Neck  lands  for  many  years  after  that. 

It  appears  that  Robert  Turner  was  the  first  owner  of  Beacon 


90  OWNERSHIP    OF    BEACON    HILL. 

Hill,  and  he  probably  got  possession  of  it  by  the  gradual  exten- 
sion of  his  cow  pasture  up  its  side,  as  did  Thomas  Hancock, 
many  years  later.  Turner  was  an  inhabitant  of  the  colony 
as  early  as  1637 ;  was  an  owner  of  land  in  1638-9  ;  was  elect- 
ed constable  in  1646 ;  was  a  commissioner  for  settling  the  boun- 
daries between  Cambridge  and  "Rocksbury,"  in  1654,  and  also 
between  Cambridge  and  Boston,  the  following  year  —  so  he  was 
evidently  a  man  of  some  consequence  and  of  family.  At  the 
time  of  his  death  he  was  possessed  of  about  eight  acres  of  land, 
on  and  near  the  summit  of  Beacon  Hill,  the  westerly  boundary 
of  which  was  nineteen  feet  east  of  what  long  afterwards  was 
called  Hancock  street.  An  old  deed  to  Robert  Turner,  of  the 
town's  rights,  probably  the  first  deed  ever  made  of  the  hill,  was 
of  the  date  of  1670. 

Robert  Turner  was  by  profession  a  shoemaker,  was  also  a  ser- 
geant and  was  called  "Brother"  Turner  by  the  church  people, 
and  may  possibly  have  been  the  "  ward"  of  the  Beacon,  after 
it  was  put  up,  and  thus  have  had  a  residence  well  up  on  the 
side  of  the  hill  in  the  early  time. 

The  question  of  ownership  of  Beacon  Hill  was  thoroughly 
investigated  in  1855,  by  Dr.  N.  I.  Bowditch,  who  published 
a  series  of  articles  in  the  Evening  Transcript,  from  which  we 
make  the  following  extracts  : 

"  John  Turner  was  one  of  the  devisees  of  his  father.  Robert 
Turner,  and  had  acquired  portions  by  deed  from  the  executrix. 
He  in  1673,  sells  to  Samuel  Shrimpton  a  small  slip  of  land,  in 
breadth,  23  feet  front,  bounded  on  the  Common,  south,  and  in 
length  180  feet,  bounded  on  said  Samuel,  west,  and  on  the  way 
leading  up  from  the  Train ingfield  to  Centry  Hill,  on  the  east 
side,  and  running  from  the  east  corner  in  front  on  the  south  line, 


OWNERSHIP   OF   BEACON   HILL.  91 

182  feet.  This  is  a  gore  of  the  State  House  estate,  bounded  east 
on  the  highway  to  the  Monument  [Beacon],  i.  e.  Mount  Vernon 
street.  John  Turner  died  1681.  and  his  executors  sold  two  acres 
of  said  Mount  Vernon  street,  or  the  Monument  highway,  to 
George  Monk,  in  1681.  On  the  same  day  they  sold  to  said 
Shrimpton  "  all  that  land  upon  and  by  the  side  of  Beacon  Hill, 
bounded  on  said  Shrimpton  and  on  Elizabeth  Cook,  widow,  or 
Humphrey  Davis  and  others,,  on  several  points  and  quarters,  re- 
serving unto  the  town  of  Boston  their  privileges  and  interest  on 
the  top  of  said  hill,  and  passage  from  the  Common  thereto. 

"  Colonel  Shrimpton  thus  acquired  all  Beacon  Hill  and  a  gore 
of  the  State  House  lot,  the  deed  of  said  gore  bounding  on  the 
residue  of  the  said  State  House  lot,  &c.  already  his.  Besides 
these  estates  and  Noddle's  Island,  he  owned  the  Union  Bank 
building,  and  from  that  circumstance,  Exchange  street  was,  for 
many  years,  known  as  Shrimpton's  Lane.  He  was  decidedly 
one  of  the  greatest  men  of  his  day.  He  died  and  by  will,  proved 
February  17,  1679,  devised  to  his  wife  Elizabeth  for  life,  the 
residue  of  his  estate  with  power  to  dispose  of  these  among  her 
relatives  by  deed  or  will.  She  married  Simeon  Stoddard,  and 
died  in  1713,  devising  to  her  grand-daughter,  Elizabeth  Shrimp- 
ton, various  other  estates  for  life,  remainder  to  her  heirs  in  tail. 
Her  inventory  appraises  '  the  pasture  joining  to  Beacon  Hill, 
,£50.'  [Decidedly  cheap  for  the  State  House  lot  and  about  two 
acres  north  of  it !]  She  married  John  Yeamans,  in  1720,  and 
died  leaving  an  only  child,  Shute  Shrimpton  Yeamans,  who  in 
1742,  becoming  of  age,  barred  the  entail,  and  vested  the  fee  in 
his  father.  The  deeds,  besides  mentioning  the  particular  estates 
devised  in  tail,  included  '  all  the  lands,  &c.  in  Boston.  Rumney 
marsh  or  elsewhere,  of  which  Mrs.  Mary  Yeamans  was  tenant 
in  tail  by  force  of  said  will.' 


92  OWNERSHIP   OF   BEACON    HILL. 

"  John  Yeamans  dying,  the  estate  became  again  his  son's,  who 
in  1752,  conveyed  to  Thomas  Hancock,  '  a  piece  of  land  near 
Beacon  Hill,  containing  two  acres,  late  the  estate  of  my  great 
grandfather,  Samuel  Shrimpton,  bounded  south  on  the  Common, 
west  on  said  Thomas  Hancock  in  part,  and  in  part  on  common 
land  ;  then  turns  and  is  bounded  north  on  common  land ;  and 
then  east  on  the  street  or  highway  leading  from  the  Common  to 
Beacon  Hill.'  Now  there  were  about  75,000  feet  of  land,  or 
nearly  two  acres  in  the  State  House  lot,  and  the  above  descrip- 
tion evidently  proceeds  on  an  erroneous  idea  that  the  common 
lands  of  the  town  included  nearly  all  Beacon  Hill.  But  we 
have  seen  the  old  deed  of  1670  to  John  Turner,  by  which  the 
town  right  is  limited  to  six  rods  square  and  the  highway  leading 
to  it.  And  from  the  Selectmen's  minutes  of  January  17,  1753, 
we  find  that  on  petition  of  Thomas  Hancock,  an  investigation 
was  had  of  the  town's  rights,  which  were  then,  also,  in  like  man- 
ner, limited  to  six  rods  square  and  the  thirty  feet  highway. 

"The  result  is  that  Thomas  Hancock  thus  obtained  all  Bea- 
con Hill,  one  hundred  years  ago,  without  paying  one  cent  for  it, 
and  he  and  those  coming  after  him,  retained  possession  by  pas- 
turing cows  there.  These  ruminating  animals,  while  quietly 
chewing  the  cud  in  that  splendid  cattle  field,  (where  by  the  way 
they  must  have  been  'the  observed  of  all  observers',')  also  si- 
lently eat  up  the  inheritance  of  poor  Shute  Shrimpton  Yeamans 
and  his  heirs.  One  of  these  very  heirs,  a  high  officer  of  the 
Commonwealth,  (Gen.  William  H.  Sumner,)  as  he  looked  at 
them,  year  after  year,  from  the  State  House  windows,  was  prob- 
ably wholly  unconscious  that  they  were  feeding  at  his  expense. 
The  language  of  the  deed  to  Hancock,  seeming  to  recognize  the 
ownership  of  this  hill  by  the  town,  it  became  the  subject  of  pro- 


OWNERSHIP   OF    BEACON   HILL.  93 

tracted  litigation,  in  -which  the  inhabitants  were  at  last  defeated, 
and  while  the  Hancock  heirs  and  the  town  were  quarrelling  for 
what  belonged  to  neither  of  them,  the  true  owners  were  placidly 
looking  on  in  a  blissful  state  of  ignorance." 

"We  have  seen  that  Thomas  Hancock,  in  1752,  commenced 
his  title  to  this  spot  on  Beacon  Hill  which  was .  perfected  by  the 
grazing  of  cows.  The  will  of  Mr.  Turner  devised  to  his  sons, 
Ephraim,  Joseph  and  John,  and  his  son-in-law,  John  Fayer- 
wether.  Ephraim  sold  out  wholly  to  Fayerwether,  and  there  is 
one  deed  from  Joseph  to  John,  bounded  south  on  Joseph's  re- 
maining land  :  this  residue  seems  also  to  have  been  subsequent- 
ly acquired  by  said  John  Turner.  Of  the  whole  estate  of  the 
testator,  the  easterly  three  acres  are  finally  held  under  Fayer- 
wether, (being  the  Sears,  Phillips  and  Bowdoin  estates.)  The 
middle  two  and  three  quarter  acres,  partly  under  him  and  part- 
ly under  John  Turner,  (being  the  Rogers  estate),  while  the 
Beacon  Hill  lot  of  one  and  three  quarter  acres,  and  a  respecta- 
ble gore  of  the  State  house  lot,  say  two  acres  in  all,  are  held 
exclusively  under  said  John  Turner  —  so  that  the  entire  estate 
of  Robert  Turner  holds  out  seven  and  three  quarter  acres,  or  as 
supposed,  about  eight  acres."         *         *         * 

The  easterly  portion  of  the  hill,  between  the  highway  leading 
to  the  six  rods  square,  and  Bowdoin  street,  does  not  appear  ever 
to  have  been  included  in  the  Hancock  estate,  though  it  did  be- 
long to  the  estate  of  Robert  Turner.  It  passed  through  various 
hands  at  different  times  until  it  came  into  the  possession  of 
William  Thurston.  Dr.  Bowditch  gives  the  following  account 
of  it  :— 

"Among  the  lots  sold  by  D.  D.  Rogers,  the  estate  on  Bow- 
doin street,  owned  some  years  ago  by  President  Quincy  and 


94  OWNERSHIP    OP    BEACON   HILL. 

others,  80  feet  front,  was  in  1802,  conveyed  by  him  to  William 
Thurston.  *  *  *  Mr.  Thurston,  in  1804,  erected  a  house 
from  which  he  could  literally  look  down  upon  all  his  fellow-citi- 
zens. It  stood  in  about  the  centre  of  his  land  from  north  to 
south,  while  it  was  but  two  feet  distant,  on  the  west  side,  from 
the  monument  lot.  It  was  approached  only  by  steps,  and  it  was 
even  found  necessary  to  hoist  up  all  his  wood,  &c."  It  was  a 
large  and  elegant  building  for  the  time,  and  before  it  was  taken 
down  stood  perched  upon  its  elevated  bank,  "  overtopping  the 
chimnics  of  the  neighboring  houses." 

Mr.  Thomas  Hancock  occupied  his  splendid  mansion  and  lord- 
ly estate,  for  more  than  twenty-five  years,  and  died  in  1764. 
Among  numerous  bequests,  evincing  great  public  spirit  and 
liberality,  he  gave  to  his  widow,  Lydia,  X10,000  sterling;  also 
"  the  mansion  house  wherein  I  now  dwell,  with  the  gardens, 
yard  and  land  belonging  to  it,  and  all  the  houses,  edifices  and 
buildings  adjoining,  or  anyways  appertaining  to  the  same  as 
now  improved  and  occupied  by  me,  and  also  the  lands  near  it, 
that  I  bought  of  Messrs.  Yeamans  and  Thompson,  and  the  house 
and  land  I  bought  of  Ebenezer  Messenger,  adjoining  to  my  gar- 
den. I  also  give  unto  her  all  my  plate  and  household  furniture 
of  every  kind,  and  my  chariots,  chaises,  carriages  and  horses  ; 
and  also  all  my  negroes  —  all  which  she  is  to  hold  to  herself  and 
her  heirs  forever,"  &c.  "  This  devise  to  the  widow  included  all 
the  State  House  and  lands  west  of  it  to  Belknap  street,  and  all 
Beacon  Hill  north  of  it.  (between  six  and  seven  acres.)  !So 
that  she  was  the  richest  widow  that  had  ever  lived  in  Boston, 
and,  strange  to  say,  she  remained  single.  Mrs.  Lydia  Hancock, 
(ne  Henchman)  died  in  1777,  devising  the  famous  Brattle 
street  parsonage  estate  and  making  many   other  legacies,   and 


OWNERSHIP   OP   BEACON   HILL.  95 

constituting  her  nephew,  Gov.  John  Hancock,  sole  residuary 
legatee  and  executor  —  who  thus  became  owner  of  this  princely 
inheritance,  where  he  resided  until  his  death  in  1793." 

It  will  be  seen  from  these  statements  that  Governor  Hancock 
did  not  receive  the  large  estate  of  his  uncle  directly  from  him, 
as  generally  stated,  but  from  his  widow,  who  enjoyed  the  posses- 
sion of  it  for  about  thirteen  years  after  her  husband's  death. 

The  writer  of  the  papers  referred  to  gives  the  following  par- 
ticulars concerning  the  Hancock  estate  :  "  The  Hancock  title  I 
should  characterize  by  words  beginning  with  d.  Its  descents, 
devises,  deeds,  divisions  and  dowers,  with  its  doubts,  difficulties 
and  defects,  make  it  the  very  d — 1. '  •  *  *  The  Governor  died 
without  issue,  leaving  a  widow,  a  mother  (who  by  a  subsequent 
marriage  became  Mrs.  Perkins),  a  brother,  (Ebenezer,)  and 
twelve  children  of  a  deceased  sister,  two  of  whom  successively 
married  Samuel  Spear.  One  of  these  wives  of  Mr.  Spear  left 
seven  children,  who  each  claimed  l-252d  part.  So  minute  was 
the  share  of  each  that  on  a  partition,  in  1819,  of  the  Beacon 
street  lands,  each  of  these  children  had  a  strip  set  off,  measur- 
ing less  than  18  inches  on  Beacon  street  in  width  by  80  feet  in 
depth.  *  *  Mount  Verncn  street  was  laid  out  across  the 
Hancock  estate,  a  few  years  after  the  Governor's  death,  in  con- 
tinuation of  the  lower  part  of  the  street,  which  had  been  laid 
out  by  the  Mount  Vernon  proprietors.  Temple  street  stopped  a 
few  feet  south  of  Derne  street,  or  at  the  north  base  of  Beacon 
Hill.  *  *  A  very  elaborate  partition  was  made  in  1819  of 
this  Beacon  Hill  lot,  each  of  the  said  children  here  getting  a 
strip  of  land  measuring  less  than  two  feet  four  inches  on  Mount 
Vernon  street  by  60  feet  deep." 


96  OWNERSHIP   OF   BEACON   HILL. 

"  The  name  of  Temple  street  was  selected  as  one  of  the  names 
of  the  family  of  Gov.  Bowdoin,  whose  daughter  was  Elizabeth, 
Lady  Temple,  wife  of  Sir  John  Temple.  *  *  Beacon  street 
seems  to  have  been  so  named  because  it  did  not  lead  to  the  Bea- 
con. Mount  Vernon  street,  (as  it  ranged  from  east  to  west) , 
was  three  hundred  feet  nearer  to  it,  and  thus  had  a  better  right 
to  have  been  so  called ;  but  Temple  street,  as  extended,  actually 
hit  the  monument  and  knocked  it  over,  and  therefore  was  not 
named  for  it."  Temple  street  was  named  long  before  the  mon- 
ument was  erected. 

In  1811,  as  a  measure  of  municipal  economy  and  relief  from 
debt,  the  town  proposed  to  sell  some  portions  of  its  public  lands, 
and  the  sale  took  place  on  the  20th  day  of  June.  Among  other 
lands  sold  was  that  on  Beacon  Hill,  upon  which  the  Monument 
stood,  originally  reserved  by  the  town  in  1635.  This  lot  was 
purchased  by  Samuel  Spear  and  John  Hancock,  and  the  deed 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Suifolk  Registry,  Lib.  238,  folio  176,  and 
reads  in  part  as  follows  : 

"  The  town  of  Boston,  by  their  Committee,  August  10, 
1811,  sold  to  Samuel  Spear  and  John  Hancock,  the  land  on 
which  the  Monument  was  erected,  being  six  rods  square,  bound- 
ed easterly  by  lands  of  William  Thurston,  in  part,  and  land  of 
the  heirs  of  the  late  Governor  Hancock  ;  northerly  and  Avesterly 
by  land  of  the  same  heirs  in  part,  and  a  passage  way  in  part. 
Said  passage  way  being  thirty-two  feet  wide,  leading  to  the 
above  described  land  and  extending  from  Centry  street,  formerly 
so  called,  to  the  above  described  premises." 

This  transaction  is  mentioned  by  Dr.  Bowditch  as  follows :  — 
"  The  town  conveyed  to  John  Hancock  and  Samuel  Spear,  in 
1811.  the  six  rods  square  on  which  the  monument  stocd,  and  all 


OWNERSHIP   OP   BEACON   HILL.  97 

right  in  the  highway  leading  to  it,  30  feet  by  60  feet,  say  11,- 
600  feet,  for  the  miserable  pittance  of  80  cents  per  foot, 
($9,800.)  The  monument  was  then  a  substantial  structure, 
with  inscriptions  on  its  four  sides.  These  are  still  preserved. 
I  trust  that  they  will  preserve  for  the  remembrance  of  a  grate- 
ful posterity  the  names  of  those  who,  when  they  erected  it,  meant 
that  it  should  stand  for  ages  ;  and  I  regret  that  I  cannot  con- 
sign  to  deserved  infamy  the  names  of  those  who  so  disgracefully 
turned  an  official  penny  by  selling  it.  Such  persons  would  sell 
a  family  grave  yard." 

After  this  unaccountable  and  most  reprehensible  sale  of  the 
monument  lot  —  almost  as  if  it  were  the  work  of  tory  conniv- 
ance—  the  removal  of  the  hill,  which  had  been  so  gradually 
going  on  for  years,  became  at  once  more  rapid,  and  the  renown- 
ed summit  was  soon  levelled  to  the  foundation  line  of  the  new 
State  House.  The  Monument,  we  have  been  informed,  was  re- 
moved by  Mr.  Spear,  one  of  the  purchasers  of  the  land,  and  it 
is  said  that  he  saved  the  tablets. 

"  In  the  12th  Mass.  Reports,  220.  is  a  very  celebrated  law 
case  —  Thurston  vs.  Hancock  et  al.  —  from  which  it  appears 
that  the  defendants  in  1811,  dug  down  their  land  on  the  west, 
60  feet  below  the  original  level,  and  the  earth  fell  in,  leaving 
bare  plaintiffs  cellar  wall,  and  rendering  his  house  unsafe,  so 
that  it  had  to  be  taken  down.  His  damages  were  laid  at  twenty 
thousand  dollars.  The  decision  was  that  '  no  action  lay  for  the 
owner  of  the  house  for  damages  done  to  the  house  ;  but  that  he 
was  entitled  to  an  action  for  damages  arising  from  the  falling  of 
his  natural  soil  into  the  pit  so  dug.'  A  very  learned  opinion 
was  given  by  Judge  Parker.  It  was  founded  on  the  idea  that 
Mr.  Thurston  must  have  known  that  his  next  neighbors  'had 


98  OWNERSHIP   OP   BEACON   HILL. 

a  right  to  build  equally  near  to  the  line,  or  to  dig  down  the  soil 
for  any  other  lawful  purpose;'  and  that  'from  the  shape  and 
nature  of  the  ground,  it  was  impossible  to  dig  without  caus- 
ing excavations.' 

"  This  opinion  has  always  been  unsatisfactory  to  many  of  the 
profession.  The  town  had  owned  this  ninety-nine  feet  square, 
the  summit  of  the  hill,  with  the  thirty  feet  way  to  it,  for  the 
purpose  of  sustaining  a  beacon,  and  as  a  spot  accessible  to  all 
citizens  and  strangers.  It  could  not  reasonably  have  been  sup- 
posed that  for  any  sum  of  money,  much  less  that  for  a  mere 
mess  of  pottage,  the  town  could  have  been  induced  to  part  with 
the  one  object  that  made  it  distinctly  the  Queen  of  all  the  cities 
on  this  continent.  This  area  on  the  summit  of  the  hill  having 
been  retained  for  these  high  public  objects,  the  adjoining  individ- 
ual owners  would  have  held  their  lands  subject  to  the  easement 
that  this  area  and  the  way  to  it  should  forever  remain  unmolest- 
ed ;  and  but  for  the  suicidal  act  of  the  town  itself  in  selling  it, 
I  conceive  that  we  never  could  have  been  deprived  of  this,  the 
crowning  glory  of  the  metropolis."  Unfortunately  for  Mr. 
Thurston,  perhaps,  the  town  did  sell  it  ;  but  his  property  be- 
came valuable,  while  that  of  the  town  was  thrown  away,  and 
what  should  have  been  prized  as  a  patriotic  historical  memorial, 
shamefully  disregarded  and  sacrificed.  No  excuse  or  apology 
has  ever  been  offered  for  the  traitorous  act,  and  we  should  be 
sure  that  it  was  an  artful  tory  trick,  were  it  not  that  it  was 
done  with  so  much  deliberation  and  form,  complicated  by  in- 
cluding the  sale  of  several  lots  in  one  vote. 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  BEACON  HILL. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

Plan  of  the  town  in  1728  ;  Paul  Revere  "s  engraving  of  the  town  and  harbor  ; 
View  of  the  town  from  Dorchester  ;  Recollections  of  a  merchant  ;  Recol- 
lections of  Dr.  Bowditch  ;  Alford  Estate  ;  Daniel  D.  Rogers'  and  William 
Thurston's  houses  ;  Recollections  of  General  Oliver  ;  of  John  G.  Palfrey  ; 
Use  of  the  material  of  Trimountain  ;  the  Hancock  house  and  grounds  ; 
Miss  Gardner's  Recollections  ;  the  Eulogy  on  Gov.  Bowdoin. 

In  a  "  Plan  of  Boston  in  New  England,"  by  Will  Burgiss, 
dedicated  to  Gov.  Burnet,  in  1728,  re-produced  in  1869,  Bea- 
con Hill  is  conspicuously  shown,  with  the  pole  on  its  summit. 
The  powder  house  and  watch  house  are  on  the  Common,  and  the 
earliest  fortifications  across  the  Neck,  are  represented.  The 
small  plan  facing  page  59  in  this  volume,  is  taken  from  this 
map,  which  is  probably  the  earlist  representation  of  the  Beacon 
in  any  engraving  extant. 

Beacon  Hill  and  the  Beacon,  as  well  as  Fort  Hill,  are  rep- 
resented in  Paul  Revere's  well  known  engraving  entitled  "Pros- 
pective  View  of  the  Town  of  Boston,  the  Capital  of  New  Eng- 
land, and  the  Landing  of  Troops  in  the  year  1708,  [October]." 
The  ships  are  lying  at  anchor  in  the  harbor  and  boats  are  pas- 
sing from  them  to  the  shore  with  the  troops.     In  this  engraving 


100  RECOLLECTIONS   OF   BEACON   HILL. 

thirteen  steeples  are  delineated,  and  there  were  at  this  time 
eighteen  places  of  public  worship  in  •  the  town.  No  opposition 
was  made  to  the  landing  of  the  troops,  and  ' '  the  town  Avas  con- 
verted into  a  garrison." 

In  a  steel  engraving  representing  a  view  of  the  town,  taken 
from  Dorchester  Heights  in  1774,  in  Lo3sing's  Washington,  the 
whole  range  of  hills  is  presented,  with  the  Beacon  standing 
upon  the  northerly  portion,  a  church  steeple  and  one  or  two 
houses  just  appearing  at  the  left  of  it.  It  does  not  appear 
to  us  to  be  a  very  accurate  or  reliable  representation,  either  as 
regards  the  location  of  the  town  at  this  time,  or  the  relative 
height  and  location  of  the  hills.  The  English  ships  are  seen  in 
the  harbor,  and  one  of  them  appears  to  be  in  flames. 

Dr.  Bowditch  says,  "an  intelligent  merchant  of  this  city,  who 
came  here  in  1787,  a  boy  of  11  years,  remembers  that  this 
monument  was  not  then  erected.  There  was  at  that  time  a 
stone  basement  on  which  rested  four  horizontal  timbers,  crossing- 
each  other  in  the  centre.  From  the  centre  rose  as  high  a-  mast 
as  could  be  procured,  which  was  further  supported  by  braces. — 
It  was  surmounted  by  a  tar  barrel,  which  being  set  on  fire,  in 
case  of  danger,  was  to  be  a  beacon  to  the  country  around. 
There  was  an  apparatus  of  ladders  for  ascending  to  this  tar  bar- 
rel ;  but  fortunately,  it  was  never  found  necessary  to  give  this 
warning  signal.  The  hill  was  of  a  very  peculiar  conical  shape, 
and  the  boys  were  accustomed  to  throw  their  balls  up  as  far  as 
possible  towards  its  summit,  which  rebounded  from  it  as  from  a 
wall."     *     * 

"At  my  earliest  recollection,"  says  Dr.  Bowditch,  "the  ap- 
pearance of  the  hill  was  this :  A  grassy  hemisphere,  so  steep  that 


• 


RECOLLECTIONS   OF   BEACON   HILL.  101 

we  could  with  difficulty  mount  its  sides,  descending  with  a  per- 
fectly regular  curve  to  the  streets  on  the  south,  west  and  north. 
Just  opposite  the  end  of  Coolidge  avenue  on  Dcrne  street,  there 
was  a  flight  of  steps,  ten  or  fifteen  in  number,  leading  part  way 
up  the  hill.  Above  that  one  had  to  climb  the  rest  of  the  way 
by  aid  of  the  foot-holes  that  had  been  worn  in  the  surface  along 
a  wide  path  worn  bare  by  the  feet,  to  the  top,  where  there  was 
also  a  space  of  some  50  feet  square,  bare  of  sod.  In  the  midst 
of  this  space  stood  the  Monument.  Descending  by  the  south 
side,  one  followed  a  similar  rough  gravel  path  to  another  flight 
of  steps,  leading  down  to  the  level  of  Mount  Vernon  street,  and 
terminating  at  about  the  position  of  the  front  of  No.  13,  Mount 
Vernon  street,  the  first  house  of  those  facing  south.  The  sport 
of  batting  the  ball  up  hill  and  meeting  it  again  on  its  descent, 
was  played  by  some,  but  it  was  not  so  easy  a  game  as  one  would 
at  first  suppose,  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  maintaining  one's 
footing  on  the  hill  side,  which  was  so  steep  as  to  require  some 
skill  even  to  stand  erect  on  it.  The  appearance  of  the  hill  in 
winter  I  do  not  recollect,  but  I  think  it  must  have  been  general- 
ly bare  of  snow,  from  its  elevated  position,  and  I  do  not  recol- 
lect having  ever  seen  sleds  used  on  it." 

A  portion  of  Turner's  estate  fell  into  the  hands  of  John  Al- 
ford  of  Charlestown ;  was  afterwards  sold  to  John  Mollineux,  in 
1760  ;  was  confiscated  during  war  by  the  colony,  and  sold  to 
Daniel  Dennison  Rogers.  This  estate  fronted  on  Beacon  and 
Bowdoin  streets,  and  extended  to  the  passage  way  (State  House 
line)  on  the  west,  and  ran  as  far  north  as  the  monument  lot, 
(line  of  the  Reservoir)  and  never  belonged  to  the  Hancock  es- 
tate.    The  northern  or  higher  portion  of  this  lot,  bounding  on 


102  RECOLLECTIONS   OF   BEACON   HILL. 

Bowdoin  street  and  running  back  to  the  Monument  lot,  was 
sold  to  William  Thurston,  and  his  house  was  built  in  1804.  — 
Dr.  Shurtleff  says,  "  Not  a  few  of  the  older  inhabitants  who 
were  living  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  century,  re- 
member well  the  lofty  mansion  house  of  William  Thurston,  Esq. 
as  it  presented  itself  to  the  sight  of  all  in  the  days  of  its  mag- 
nificence, from  its  towering  eminence  just  east  of  the  monument; 
and  many  will  never  forget  the  same  building,  shorn  of  its  pris- 
tine glory,  standing  upon  the  high  precipice  formed  by  the  re- 
moval of  the  greater  part  of  the  soil  of  the  same  hill,  overtop- 
ping the  chimnies  of  the  neighboring  houses." 

"  The  house  well  remembered  by  so  many,  as  standing  in  a 
similar  condition  as  Mr.  Thurston's,  was  the  house  of  the  late 
Daniel  Dennison  Rogers,  and  was  situated  on  the  estate  just 
south  of  the  present  Beacon  Hill  Place.  It  was  a  large  double 
house,  and  was  built  on  the  European  plan,  with  a  stable  and 
wood  house  in  front,  and  the  main  entrance  approached  from 
between  these,  over  a  long  flight  of  stone  steps  which  led  to  it 
and  its  famous  front  garden.  Mrs.  Elizabeth,  widow  of  Mr. 
Rogers,  died  on  the  5th  of  May,  1833,  aged  69  years;  and  the 
estate  was  sold  at  auction  in  the  subsequent  June.  The  house 
was  taken  down  soon  after,  and  the  present  block  built  and  oc- 
cupied in  1835." 

A  gentleman,*  familiar  with  the  locality  before  the  hill  was 
dug  down,  writes  to  the  author  as  follows  :  "  Many  a  time,  when 
a  boy,  have  I  played  and  raised  my  kite  on  this  hill,  and  my 
recollection  of  its  condition  is  very  distinct.  It  then  extended 
from  Bowdoin  street  along  the  line  of  Mount  Vernon  street,  to 

*  General  Henry  K.  Oliver,  of  Salem. 


RECOLLECTIONS   OP   BEACON   HILL.  103 

Hancock  street,  terminating  in  the  rear  of  Jacob  Kuhn's  house, 
(who  was  known  afterwards  as  the  venerable  sergeant-at-arms 
of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature,)  on  Hancock  street — that 
house  then  standing  on  a  portion  of  the  ground  now  cover- 
ed by  the  Cochituate  Reservoir.  Derne  street  was  on  its  north- 
erly side  and  Mount  Vernon  street  on  its  southerly  side,  both 
streets  being  really  excavations  into  the  original  hill.  It  was 
partially  dug  down  in  1808-9,  and  the  material  used  in  part  in 
forming  Charles  street.  I  remember  the  old  chap  who  jobbed 
and  bossed  the  work,  and  how  savagely  we  boys  regarded  him 
as  the  destroyer  of  our  hill  of  fun  and  look  out.  The  access  to 
the  hill  from  Mount  Vernon  street,  was  through  a  turn-stile,  up 
two  flights  of  steps,  terminating  at  a  block  of  two  brick  houses, 
owned  by  a  Mr.  Thurston,  a  lawyer,  passing  by  which  you 
might  descend  by  the  other  steps  to  Derne  street,  through  an- 
other turn-stile —  opposite  the  then  head  of  Temple  street. — 
The  digging  down  of  the  hill  opened  Temple  street  to  Mount 
Vernon,  but  the  street  was  not  formally  laid  out  until  1824,  by 
the  city.  The  Monument  stood  on  the  highest  point  of  the 
hill,  to  the  westward  of  Mr.  Thurston's  houses." 

Another  gentleman*  who  lived  in  the  vicinity  when  a  young 
man,  writes  :  "My  father  broke  up  his  house  in  Middlecot  street, 
now  Bowdoin,  in  1803.  I  remember  Temple  street,  parallel  to 
it,  as  having  across  its  upper  end  a  flight  of  say  from  twelve  to 
twenty  steps,  which  at  the  foot  of  Beacon  Hill,  relieved  the 
steep  ascent.  From  there  the  visitor  kept  up  to  the  top  of  the 
hill,  over  a  surface  which  might  sometimes  have  been  green, 

*  Honorable  John  G.  Palfrey,  of  Cambridge.  * 


104  RECOLLECTIONS   OF   BEACON   HILL. 

but  which  I  remember  as  bare  and  without  grass,  like  that  part 
of  the  Common  where  the  games  of  ball  take  place.  At  the 
top  stood  the  square  monument,  of  brick,  I  ^hink,  with  inscrib- 
ed slabs  of  slate  let  into  its  sides.  *  *  One  of  nry  first  vol- 
untary exercises  in  reading  was  employed  on  these  commemo- 
rative tablets."  The  good  effect  of  the  lesson,  it  is  not  improb- 
able, may  be  seen  in  the  later  efforts  of  the  writer,  in  his  admi- 
rable history  of  New  England. 


The  material  of  Beacon  Hill  and  its  spurs,  long  before  the 
time  of  Hodson's  digging  (1764)  was  used  in  and  around  Oli- 
ver's dock  and  probably  the  Creek,  and  very  likely  in  building 
the  barricade  in  the  harbor,  (nearly  on  the  line  of  Atlantic  Av- 
enue) ;  then  much  later,  to  some  extent,  in  Franklin  street, 
and  Charles  street  ;  in  the  Broad  street  improvement,  filling  up 
between  Batterymarch  and  State  street,  in  1805-6  and  probably 
later ;  then  in  1804  and  later,  in  filling  the  Mill  Pond,  and  a 
portion  of  it  was  used  to  cover  the  road  over  the  Milldam,  in 
1820  ;  and  finally  Gardner  Greene's  estate  and  other  estates 
on  Pemberton  Hill,  were  dug  down  to  fill  up  Charles  River  for 
the  Lowell  railroad  depot  and  freight  houses.  Anne  .Pollard, 
who  died  December  6,  1725.  aged  105  years,  used  to  say  that 
she  came  over  in  the  first  boat  that  crossed  Charles  river,  in 
1680 ;  that  she  was  the  first  to  jump  ashore  (she  could  only 
have  been  between  five  and  six  years  old)  ;  and  she  described 
the  place  as  being  very  uneven,  abounding  in  small  hollows  and 
swamps,  and  covered  with  blueberry  and  other  bushes. 

The  Hancock  House  —  the  legislature  having  refused  to  pur- 
chase the  estate  as  recommended  by  a  committee,  in  February, 


RECOLLECTIONS   OF   BEACON   HILL.  105 

1859 — was  sold  and  taken  down  in  1863,  when  the  houses 
which  now  occupy  the  lot  were  built. 

Miss  Gardner,  of  Leominster,  Mass.,  in  1862,  then  in  her 
sixty-sixth  year,  a  grand  neice  of  Governor  Hancock's  wife, 
said,  that  when  she  was  ten  or  eleven  years  of  age,  she 
spent  a  year  with  her  great  aunt.  After  defining  the  house  lot, 
she  says,  "  the  remainder  was  a  splendid  garden,  with  a  sum- 
mer house  in  the  rear.  It  was  laid  out  in  ornamental  flower 
beds  enclosed  in  box,  with  a  great  many  box  trees,  quite  large, 
and  with  a  great  variety  of  fruit  trees  ;  there  were  also  several 
immense  mulberry  trees,  all  of  which,  I  think,  remained  until 
his  widow  left  it."  "Going  in  at  the  front  gate,  there  were 
twelve  stone  steps,  wide  and  long,  with  large  box  trees  on.  each 
side ;  then  enter  the  front  door,  go  through  the  hall  which  led 
to  the  garden,  up  as  many  more  steps  to  the  small  summer 
house  on  Mount  Vernon  street." 

In  November,  1790,  at  the  funeral  ceremonies  of  the  Hon. 
James  Bowdoin,  "  Capt.  Johnson's  Artillery  was  paraded  on 
Beacon  Hill  and  discharged  minute  guns  during  the  solemni- 
ties." On  the  11th  of  March  following,  an  eulogy  was  pro- 
nounced on  Governor  Bowdoin,  as  president  of  the  Academy 
of  Arts  and  Sciences,  in  the  Brattle  square  church,  by  the 
Hon.  John  Lowell.  At  this  time  a  collection  was  taken  up  in 
aid  of  Messrs.  Jennings  and  Wheeler,  who  were  wounded  while 
performing  military  services  at  the  funeral.  Upwards  of  ,£40 
were  collected. 


HISTORICAL     MEMORANDA 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

The  peninsula  as  an  Indian  resort ;  Discovery  of  skulls  ;  Cook's  pasture  ;  the 
Bowcloin  estate  ;  Ropewalks  on  Hancock  street  ;  Winfhrop's  "  govern- 
mental tent  ;"  Views  from  the  summit  of  the  hill  ;  the  Copley  estate  ; 
Millpond  corporation  ;  Digging  down  the  hill  ;  Preservation  of  tbe  Tab- 
lets and  the  Eagle  ;  Improvements  on  the  hill  and  streets. 

It  is  thought  probable  that  Beacon  Hill,  in  the  early  days  of 
the  settlement,  was  more  wooded  than  is  shown  in  the  drawing 
of  it  as  seen  from  Charlestown,  and  some  writers  think  it  must 
have  been  distinguished  as  a  spot  where  the  leading  men  of  the 
native  tribes  assembled  in  council.  This  may  or  may  not  be 
so  :  there  were  undoubtedly  many  Indians  on  the  peninsula  and 
they  claimed  to  own  it,  as  Blackstone  did,  and  in  point  of  fact 
each  of  them  sold  it  to  the  settlers,  and  after  that  it  was  claim- 
ed as  belonging  to  the  king,  when  the  charter  was  taken  away. 
There  was  a  tribe  of  Indians  at  Charlestown,  (or  Medford), 
called  Aberginians,  under  John  Sagamore  ;  but  no  particular 
tribe  is  mentioned  as  occupying  Shawmut.  The  Indians  were 
never  regarded  as  of  much  importance  at  Boston,  and  were 
always  well  disposed  towards  the  settlers.  It  may  have  been 
that  they  were  numerous  on  the  peninsula  before  the  settle- 


HISTORICAL    MEMORANDA.  107 

merit,  and  this  is  by  some  supposed  to  have  been  the  case. 
The  idea  may  have  been  suggested  or  supported  by  a  statement 
made  by  Dr.  Mather,  of  the  discovery  of  a  Golgotha,  or  place 
of  skulls,  on  a  spur  of  Beacon  Hill : 

"Asa  proof  of  its  having  been  an  ancient  populous  Indian 
settlement,  tradition  says  there  was  discovered  a  kind  of  Golgo- 
tha, on  the  spot  where  Gardner  Greene's  house  stands,  [now 
Pemberton  Square,]  on  the  side  of  the  hill.  Dr.  Mather  re- 
lates that  three  hundred  skull  bones  had  been  dug  up  there 
when  he  was  a  youth."     [Shaw's  Descrip.  of  Boston,  p.  78. 

Cook's  pasture,  on  Beacon  Hill,  extended  westerly  to  a  line 
77  feet  west  of  Belknap  street,  and  easterly  to  a  line  19  feet 
east  of  Hancock  street.  On  the  north  it  reached  to  the  pasture 
of  Scottow  and  Buttolph,  (that  is,  Myrtle  street,)  and  on  the 
south  to  the  estates  fronting  on  the  Common.  Cook  died  in 
1671,  and  the  land  became  the  property  of  his  son,  who  died  in 
1715,  and  his  son,  Elisha,  sold  part  of  the  property  in  1721, 
and  extended  what  is  now  Hancock  street,  through  his  pasture. 
Part  of  this  land  was  conveyed  by  some  of  the  heirs  to  Gover- 
nor Hancock,  in  1765. 

The  Bowdoin  estate  was  purchased  of  John  Irving,  in  1756, 
and  he  bought  another  lot  of  Dr.  Bulfinch,  in.  1772.  His  son 
afterwards  purchased  a  portion  of  the  Rogers  estate. 

In  1763,  there  were  three  rope  walks  west  of  Hancock  street 
forming  a  barrier  between  Belknap  street  and  Clapboard  street, 
(now  Belknap),  to  Beacon  street.  Cook  owned  two  of  these, 
44  feet  on  Hancock  street,  running  west  about  270  feet.  They 
bounded  north  on  Myrtle  street.     The  ropewalk  east  of  Han- 


108  HISTOEICAL   MEMORANDA. 

cock  street  was  bought  by  the  Commonwealth.  It  was  after- 
wards used  for  the  residence  of  the  Messenger  of  the  State 
House,  (Jacob  Kuhn)  as  late  as  1827.  The  estate  is  now  cov- 
ered by  the  Reservoir. 

"  The  summit  of  Beacon  Hill  throws  the  delighted  view  upon 
a  large  extent  of  country,  and  carries  the  eye  widely  over  the 
waters  which  fondly  wash  its  feet.  *  *  *  It  was  there  on 
the  southern  verge  of  thy  free  base,  Oh  !  happy  Beacon,  that 
the  great,  the  virtuous  Winthrop,  in  quest  of  freedom,  spread 
his  governmental  tent."     [Ind.  Chron.  Dec.  1790. 

Mrs.  Morton,  in  her  poem  entitled  Beacon  Hill,  in  speaking 
of  the  splendid  views  from  the  summit,  refers  to  the  fighting 
on  the  19th  of  April,  and  the  battle  of  the  17th  of  June,  as 
follows  : — 

•'  Witness  yon  tract,  where  first  the  Briton  bled  ! 

Driven  by  our  youth,  redoubted  Percy  fled  ; 

There  Breed  ascends,  and  Bunker's  bleeding  steeps, 

Still  o'er  -whose  brovv  abortive  victory  weeps." 

Copley,  who  married  the  daughter  of  Richard  Clarke,  one  of 
the  consignees  of  the  tea  which  was  destroyed  in  the  harbor,  had 
his  residence  on  Beacon  street,  on  or  very  near  the  Sears  estate, 
now  the  Somerset  Club  House.  The  estate  extended  from  Wal- 
nut street  to  the  water,  and  over  Chestnut  and  Mount  Vernon 
streets,  «and  included  West  Hill. 

In  1804-5,  the  Boston  Millpond  Corporation  obtained  from 
the  town  permission  to  use  the  gravel  from  Beacon  Hill  to  fill 
up  their  millpond  ;  but  in  July,  1807,  another  agreement  was 
made  with  the  corporation  by  Avhich  the  town  was  to  have 
one-eighth  of  the  lots  which  might  be  filled  up  within  twenty 


HISTORICAL    MEMORANDA.  109 

years.  As  there  were  about  fifty  acres  filled,  (about  one-twelfth 
of  the  whole  peninsula)  the  town's  share  would  be  at  least  five 
or  six  acres,  which  at  this  time  would  be  a  very  valuable 
property. 

Although  the  great  digging  on  the  west  side  commenced  in 
1811,  it  was  not  until  the  29th  day  of  July,  1824,  that  Tem- 
ple street  was  laid  out.  This  occurrence  has  led  many  to  think 
that  the  monument  could  not  have  been  removed  as  early  as 
1811,  while  others  insist  that  it  was  taken  down  several  years 
sooner.  But  it  is  well  known  that  it  was  standing  in  its  lot  in 
the  spring  of  1811,  and  that  it  was  not  there  in  November  of 
the  same  year.     [Shurtleff. 

When  the  monument  was  taken  down  to  make  room  for  im- 
provements, the  tablets  were  placed  in  a  back  passage  way  of  the 
State  House,  and  the  gilded  eagle  was  placed  over  the  entrance 
door  of  the  Doric  Hall.  About  1850,  the  Eagle  was  removed 
to  the  Representatives'  Hall  and  suspended  above  the  Speaker's 
chair,  where  it  at  present  remains.  Ten  years  later,  by  an  or- 
der of  the  legislature,  the  tablets  were  placed  in  the  easterly 
wall  of  the  Doric  Hall,  near  the  stairs  leading  to  the  Senate 
Chamber. 

In  1804.  the  houses  on  the  corner  of  Park  and  Beacon  streets 
were  built.  "  Pinckney  street,  Hancock  street.  Myrtle  street 
and  the  whole  extent  of  Mount  Vernon,  which  in  1799,  pre- 
sented a  repulsive,  dreary  waste,  on  which  only  three  decent 
houses  were  to  be  seen,  were  soon  crowned  with  extensive  ranges 
of  handsome  and  fashionable  blocks  of  dwelling  houses,"  and 
itsoon  became  "the  court  end"  of  the  town. 


REBUILDING  OF  THE  MONUMENT  PROPOSED. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Interest  attached  to  the  Monument  and  the  hill  ;  Commencement  of  the  dig- 
ging upon  the  range  ;  The  hill  dug  away  and  streets  laid  out ;  Should 
not  the  Monument  be  rebuilt  ?  Considerations  on  the  subject  ;  Action  of 
the  Bunker  Hill  Monument  Association  ;  Petition  to  the  Legislature  ;  Act 
authorizing  the  Association  to  rebuild  the  Monument  ;  Its  acceptance  by 
the  Association  ;   Conclusion. 

The  Beacon  Hill  Column,  including  the  Eagle  which  sur- 
mounted it,  and  which  was  for  the  first  time  conspicuouslj  dis- 
played as  the  adopted  emblem  of  the  country,  was  about  sixty 
feet  in  height.  Its  highest  point,  therefore,  was  one  hundred 
and  ninety-eight  feet  above  tide  water  —  almost  precisely  the 
height  of  the  dome  of  the  State  House.  More  conspicuous  than 
the  ancient  beacon,  it  was  an  object  of  peculiar  interest  to  the 
people,  and  from  the  renowned  hill  upon  which  it  stood,  would 
have  been  an  attractive  object  to  the  citizen  and  stranger.  It 
marked  as  well  the  public  spirit  as  the  patriotism  of  the  people 
of  Boston.  It  did  more  than  this  :  it  recorded  the  rise  and  pro- 
gress of  the  revolution  —  so  much  of  which  it  overlooked  —  and 
was  the  work  of  the  living  patriots  who  controlled  it. 

Such  a  memorial  should  have  been  respected  for  the  cause  it 
so  conspicuously  and  faithfully  represented  ;  but  the  hill  was 


Beacon  Mill  ™th  BJKAC0J\rj/22. 


REBUILDING    OF   THE   MONUMENT   PROPOSED.  Ill 

doomed  long  before  the  monument  was  built,*  and  even  that 
could  not  save  it.  Its  material,  we  suppose,  and  in  fact  have 
already  shown,  was  absolutely  required  for  the  growth  and  pros- 
perity of  the  town,  and  must  sooner  or  later  have  been  used  for 
the  purpose  of  filling  up  its  water  spaces  and  enlarging  its  terri- 
tory. Not  long  after  the  Monument  was  built,  and  a  few  years 
later  when  the  State  House  was  erected,  the  range  was  continu- 
ally encroached  upon ;  it  was  the  gravel  bed  of  the  town,  and 
had  been  attacked  on  all  sides  and  at  all  times,  for  all  the  pur- 
poses for  which  its  material  was  required.  The  streets  laid  out 
by  the  town  were  abruptly  terminated  upon  its  steep  sides  ;  and 
soon  the  renowned  hill  had  no  longer  any  claims  to  preservation 
or  regard,  excepting  its  history  and  its  Monument,  which  failed 
to  save  it. 

After  what  has  been  said  in  these  pages,  the  question  may 
very  earnestly  be  asked  whether  this  early  memorial  which  was 
erected  by  the  fathers  of  the  revolutionary  war,  should  not  be 
rebuilt  ;  whether  it  is  not  a  measure  of  patriotism  and  grati- 
tude due  to  their  memory  to  restore  their  work  ;  and  even  more 
than  this,  whether  it  is  not  imperatively  necessary  to  the  just 
historical  fame  of  the  city 

The  evident  intention  of  the  citizens  of  Boston,  who  had  lived 
through  the  war,  in  the  erection  of  the  monument,  was  to  hand 
down  to  posterity  by  a  visible  memorial,  the  remembrance  of  the 
oppressions,  the  struggles  and  the  sacrifices  of  their  ancestors, 
that  they  might  "  not  forget  those  who  by  their  exertions  had 
secured  to  them  those  blessings"  which  they  now  enjoy.  In 
this  they  have  been  disappointed ;  the  beautiful  column  which 
they  erected,  and  thus  inscribed,  in  the  march  of  improvement, 
has  been  ruthlessly  swept  away  ;  and  it  is  merely  a  piece  of 


112  REBUILDING   OF   THE   MONUMENT   PROPOSED. 

good  fortune  that  the  tablets,  historical  as  well  as  monitory, 
have  been  preserved  for  our  perusal. 

Upon  this  simple  statement,  it  would  seem,  the  argument  in 
favor  of  a  reconstruction  of  the  work,  in  some  conspicuous  spot 
beyond  the  reach  of  future  improvements,  is  mainly  set  forth. 
That  which  the  patriotic  "  Citizens  of  Boston,"  who  had  felt 
the  power  of  the  oppressor  and  witnessed  the  firmness  of  the 
people,  did  "To  commemorate  that  train  of  events  which  led  to 
the  American  Revolution  and  finally  secured  Liberty  and  Inde- 
pendence to  the  United  States,"  has  been  undone  by  the  com- 
munity in  whose  charge  it  was  left  to  be  preserved.  Can  there 
be  any  room  to  doubt  as  to  the  duty  of  the  present  generation, 
on  these  premises  ?  As  a  matter  of  pride  ;  as  an  evidence  of 
gratitude  ;  as  a  patriotic  impulse  ;  as  a  matter  of  highly  inter- 
esting local  history  ;  as  a  simple  duty  of  self  respect,  the  right 
course  seems  to  be  both  plain  and  certain.  If  the  fathers  who 
felt  the  burdens  of  the  time,  suffered  its  deprivations  and  gen- 
erously met  its  demands,  could  project  and  complete  such  a 
patriotic  purpose,  at  their  own  cost,  can  the  sons  who  enjoy  the 
blessings  which  they  secured,  and  have  been  only  too  unfaithful 
to  the  trust  reposed  in  them,  neglect  any  longer  to  restore  this 
memorial,  and  thereby  give  a  new  evidence  of  their  confidence 
in  the  government  which  their  ancestors  founded  ? 

There  is  now  an  opportunity  to  accomplish  this  object,  should 
it  be  deemed  desirable  to  do  so,  and  there  can  hardly  be  a 
period  of  time  in  our  history  when  it  would  be  more  in  accord- 
ance with  the  sentiments  of  the  time  and  the  feelings  of  the 
people,  than  the  present.  The  measure  was  suggested  some 
years  ago,  at  the  time  of  the  inauguration  of   the  Franklin 


Rl  BUILMNG    OF   TUE   MONUMENT   PROPOSED.  118 

statue,*  and  again  by  a  committee  of  the  Monument  Associa- 
tion.! In  1864,  the  subject  was  brought  to  the  notice  of  that 
association  and  a  committee  appointed  to  consider  the  subject. 
The  next  year  the  committee  made  a  report,  in  which  they  say, 
"  so  far  as  they  have  been  able  to  ascertain  public  opinion  on 
the  subject,  there  is  a  general  conviction  that  the  early  monu- 
ment of  the  fathers  of  the  Revolution  should  be  restored,  and  a 
desire  that  this  association  should  undertake  the  service."  Im- 
pressed with  this  view,  the  committee  determined  to  apply  to 
the  legislature  of  the  Commonwealth  for  an  act  giving  authori- 
ty to  the  association  for  the  purpose,  and  presented  the  following 
petition  : — 

To  the  Honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  Commonioealth  of  Massachusetts  : 

The  undersigned,  a  Committee  appointed  by  the  Bunker  Hill 
Monument  Association,  on  the  17th  of  June,  1864,  respectfully 
represent — 

That  the  "  Citizens  of  Boston,"  by  a  voluntary  contribution, 
in  the  year  1790,  caused  to  be  erected  on  Beacon  Hill,  in  the 
town  of  Boston,  a  few  rods  north  of  the  present  State  House,  a 
public  Monument,  intended  to  commemorate  "  that  train  of 
events  which  led  to  the  American  Revolution,  and  finally  secur- 
ed Liberty  and  Independence  to  the  United  States."  That 
about  the  year  1811,  said  Beacon  Hill  was  dug  away  and  grad- 
ually reduced  to  its  present  level,  and  said  Monument  taken 
down  and  destroyed,  thus  wholly  defeating  the  design  and  pat- 
riotic purpose  of  the  Citizens  of  Boston  in  its  erection.     That 


*  Oration  of  Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop. 
t  Memoir  of  Solomon  Willard. 


114  REBUILDING   OF  THE   MONUMENT   PROPOSED. 

the  tablets  or  inscriptions,  placed  in  the  pedestal  of  said  Monu- 
ment, being  of  stone,  were  preserved  and  are  now  deposited  in 
the  Doric  Hall  of  the  State  House,  in  condition  to  be  used  in 
the  re-erection  of  said  Monument,  should  the  necessary  author- 
ity be  given  for  that  purpose. 

And  your  memorialists  would  further  represent  that  they  are 
directed  to  report  to  said  Association  upon  the  subject  of  re- 
building said  Monument  on  some  suitable  site  in  the  city  of 
Boston,  in  order  that  the  original  purpose  of  its  citizens  may  be 
accomplished,  and  this  early  patriotic  memorial  of  the  revolu- 
tion and  its  results,  be  again  placed  before  the  people  that  they 
may  not  forget  "  those  who  by  their  exertions  secured"  to  them 
the  blessings  they  enjoy. 

The  undersigned,  therefore,  in  behalf  of  the  association  they 
represent,  respectfully  ask  your  Honorable  Bodies  to  pass  at 
your  present  session,  such  a  law  as  may  be  necessary  to  author- 
ize said  Bunker  Hill  Monument  Association  to  rebuild  the  said 
Beacon  Hill  Monument,  on  some  spot  which  may  be  deemed 
suitable  for  the  purpose  in  the  city  of  Boston,  with  the  consent 
of  its  authorities,  and  to  take  and  receive  said  tablets  or  inscrip- 
tions of  the  original  structure,  now  in  the  keeping  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, whenever  they  shall  be  desirous  of  using  the  same 
for  the  purpose  herein  stated. 

William  W.  Wheildon, 
Robert  C.  Winthrop, 
Frederic  W.  Lincoln,  Jr., 
J.  Huntington  Wolcott, 
Winslow  Lewis. 
Boston,  February  22,  1865. 
In  compliance  with  the  purpose  of  this  petition,  a  hearing 


REBUILDING   OF   THE   MONUMENT   PROPOSED.  115 

was  had  before  a  committee  of  the  legislature  and  the  following 
act  was  passed  and  approved  : 

An  Act  in  addition  to  an  act  to  incorporate  the  Bun- 
ker Hill  Monument  Association. 
Be  it  enacted,  ty*c,  That  the  Bunker  Hill  Monument  Asso- 
ciation be  and  they  hereby  are  authorized  on  some  suitable  site 
to  be  selected  and  provided  by  them,  to  rebuild  the  Beacon  Hill 
Monument,  which  was  originally  built  by  the  citizens  of  Bos- 
ton, in  1790,  to  commemorate  the  causes  and  results  of  the 
American  Revolution,  and  to  take  such  measures  as  may  be  ne- 
cessary to  effect  this  object.  Provided,  That  said  Association 
shall  not  be  authorized  to  build  said  monument  on  any  land  be- 
longing to  the  city  of  Boston,  without  the  consent  of  its  author- 
ities first  obtained. 

Section  2.  That  for  the  purpose  expressed  in  the  foregoing 
section  the  said  Bunker  Hill  Monument  Association  are  hereby 
authorized  to  take  and  receive  the  Four  Tablets,  or  inscriptions, 
formerly  composing  a  part  of  said  Beacon  Hill  Monument  and 
now  in  the  Doric  Hall  of  the  State  House  —  and  the  Secretary 
and  Treasurer  of  the  Commonwealth  are  hereby  authorized  to 
deliver  the  same  to  said  association,  their  committee,  or  agent, 
whenever  they  are  satisfied  that  said  Tablets  are  to  be  used  in 
the  rebuilding  of  said  monument  and  required  for  that  purpose. 


In  1865,  with  the  report  of  the  Committee,  the  foregoing  act 
was  submitted  for  the  consideration  of  the  Association,  where- 
upon it  was  voted,  that  the  "act  be  accepted  by  the  corpora- 
tion and  the  Committee  continued." 

In  1873,  the  Committee  made  a  further  report  on  the  sub- 
ject, accompanied  by  a  historical  monograph  of  Sentry  or  Bea- 
con Hill,  its  Beacon  and  Monument,  which,  having  been  con- 
siderably enlarged,  is  herewith  printed. 


116  REBUILDING    OF   THE    MONUMENT    PROPOSED. 

CONCLUSION. 

It  remains  now  for  the  Monument  Association,  as  a  purely 
patriotic  organization,  to  adopt  means  for  the  rebuilding  of  the 
Beacon  Hill  Monument,  which  they  alone  are  authorised  to  do. 
The  measure  has  the  sanction  of  the  government  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, and  the  authority  necessary  for  undertaking  the 
work  has  been  accepted  by  the  association.  It  does  not  seem 
necessary  to  repeat  the  views  and  opinions  already  expressed  on 
the  subject,  in  view  of  these  preliminaries.  The  whole  argu- 
ment is  contained  in  the  simple  statement  of  the  purpose  of  the 
monument,  who  built  it,  what  became  of  it,  and  the  present 
duty  in  regard  to  it.  Nor  could  the  work  be  placed  in  hands 
more  likely  to  appreciate  the  patriotic  purpose  :  the  monument 
association,  it  is  well  known,  includes  among  its  members  a 
large  representation  of  the  intelligent  and  public  spirited  citi- 
zens of  the  Commonwealth,  and  is  supposed  to  represent  the 
sentiment  of  the  community  in  questions  of  this  kind.  In  their 
hands  the  subject  of  rebuilding  the  monument  is  placed ;  and 
its  successful  accomplishment,  we  feel  well  assured,  would  be 
extremely  gratifying  to  the  people  and  honorable  to  the  associ- 
ation. In  any  event,  whatever  may  be  the  result  of  the  sug- 
gestion, the  Committee  will  feel  that  they  have  possibly  rescued 
some  portions  of  history  from  oblivion  and  at  least  done  "Some- 
thing to  perpetuate  the  remembrance,  now  almost  forgotten,  of 
the  renowned  hill,  its  ancient  Beacon  and  its  patriotic  Memorial 
of  the  Revolution  and  the  Independence  of  the  country. 


PUBLICATIONS   BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 


JVew  History  of  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  June 

17,    1775,    Its    Purpose,    Conduct,   and    Result.       By    William    W. 
Wheildon.     8vo.     pp.  58.     Price,  50  cents. 

Notices  or  the  Pkess. 
"The  result  of  long  and  careful  study;  bird's-eye  view  of  the  phases  of  the  battle." 
"  It  is  a  gem,  and  ought  to  be  in  every  family."  "  fascinating  as  any  tale  lately  told." 
"  The  partisans  of  Prescott  and  Putnam  should  be  satisfied  with  Mr.  Wheildon's  adjust- 
ment of  their  claims."  "  No  future  history  of  the  event  will  be  complete  without  a  con- 
sideration of  Mr.  Wheildon's  opinions."  "An  important  addition  to  centennial  literature." 
"  Is  challenging  a  good  deal  of  attention  from  critics  and  the  reading  public,  as  it  sets  forth 
this  very  important  event  in  our  history  in  a  manner  which  none  of  the  several  Revolu- 
tionary historians  have  attempted."  "  That  famous  fight  is  made  to  assume  an  importance 
the  late  Centennial  did  not  endow  it  with."  "  Deserves  a  place  in  libraries  of  American 
history."  "  More  minute,  definite,  and  evidently  authentic,  than  we  have  ever  seen  in  any 
single  volume."  "So  that  one  can  see  at  a  glance  just  what  was  transpiring  at  a  given 
hour."  "There  were  two  independent  engagements."  "The  story  of  the  great  day  is 
graphically  told,  upon  a  different  plan  from  any  other  of  the  many  accounts." 

JKemoir  Of  Solomon  Willard,  Architect  and  Superintend- 
ent of  the  Bunker  Hill  Monument.  By  William  W.  Wheildon. 
8vo.     With  plates,     pp.  288.     1855.     Price,  $2.00. 

"In  your  complete  vindication  of  the  true  merits  of  Solomon  Willard,  you  have  given 
to  mankind  the  best  history  of  the  most  sublime  pillar  of  testimony  now  standing  in  illus- 
tration and  commemoration  of  human  rights." —  From  Dr.  Abraham  R.  Thompson. 

"  Your  book,  in  my  humble  opinion,  is  a  just  tribute  to  the  life  and  character  of  the 
architect:  in  so  doing  you  have  given  us  a  true  and  comprehensive  history  of  the  monu- 
ment itself."  —  From  the  late  Thomas  Hooper. 

"  I  duly  received  your  biography  of  Willard,  and  confess  to  mv  gratified  surprise  that 
you  were  able  to  throw  so  much  interest  into  the  uneventful  life  of  a  private  citizen. 
There  is  more  sound  philosophy  in  such  a  memoir  than  in  the  lives  of  a  score  of  soldiers 
or  politicians;  and  I,  for  one,  thank  you  for  producing  it." — From  Ex-Gov.  Washburn. 

"  I  have  been  specially  gratified  for  the  judgment  shown  in  your  arrangement,  and  by 
the  taste  which  controlled  your  citations.  In  this  way  you  have,  without  pedantry  or  os- 
tentation, thrown  around  the  great  monument  of  America  the  proper  historic  wreath,  and 
blended  with  it  memorial  chaplets  of  Webster  and  Everett." —  From  Gov.  A.  H.  Bullock. 

"  It  has  given  me  much  pleasure  and  instruction,  and  seems,  both  in  its  literary  and 
typographical  execution,  to  be  a  most  fit  and  satisfactory  record  of  the  builders  and  the 
building  of  the  great  monument.  It  will  be  read  with  greater  interest  five  hundred  years 
hence  than  now."  —  From  Pres.  Walker  of  Harvard  College. 

Contributions  to  Thought.  By  William  W.  Wheildon, 
Fellow  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science. 
12mo.     pp.  236.     1875.     Price,  $1.00. 

"  The  author  entitles  the  volume  Contributions  to  Thought ;  and  its  contents  jus- 
tify the  title.  The  essays,  longer  or  shorter,  are  full  of  polished  writing,  expressive  of 
earnest  thought  and  studious  pursuits.  The  volume  cannot  he  read  without  affording 
more  than  usual  pleasure  to  a  thoughtful  reader."  —  Boston  Traveller. 

"  Thoughtful  discussions  they  are,  and  interesting  as  the  results  of  the  reflections  of  a 
long  and  busy  life  spent  in  <-areful  observation,  and  earnest  attention  to  the  incidents  and 
interests  of  the  times."  —  Boston  Daily  Advertiser. 

■'  Mr.  Wheildon's  book  is  pleasant  to  read,  and  is  a  contribution  of  good  sense  and 
good  advice,  if  not  of  new  information,  or  of  original  thought.  We  trust  that  a  second 
edition  will  be  called  for." —  Christian  Register. 

"  The  volume  is  a  real  contribution  to  thought.  .  .  .  Whether  we  consider  his  dis- 
cussions of  the  diverse  theme*  of  Material  Progress,  the  Theorv  of  Life,  the  Open  Polar 
Sea,  or  the  Coming  Woman,  we  find  him  perfectly  clear  and  logical,  and  that  everywhere 
there  is  crisp  English  scattered  all  the  way  through,  with  apt  suggestion  and  original 
thought,  that  proves  very  pleasant  to  read  find  ponder  over." —  Charlestown  Advertiser. 

"  Mr.  Wheildon  has  been  known  for  half  a  century  in  this  State  as  a  lecturer,  editor, 
and  practical  printer;  and  in  all  departments  of  labor,  mental  or  manual,  to  which  he  has 
given  his  attention,  he  has  been  industrious  and  earnest.  As  a  thinker  he  is  practical,  sa- 
gacious, and  logical;  and  his  style  of  composition  is  clear  and  agreeable."  — Boston  Journal. 

'■A  notable  book,  at  least  in  respect  of  its  history,  is  Mr.  Wheildon's  '  Contributions  to 
Thought.'  .  .  .  It  is  not  every  author  who  could  be  his  own  printer,  and  supplement 
so  much  really  excellent  thought  by  so  much  practical  skill.  But  tne  hook  is  more  than  a 
curiosity  :  .  .  .  it  is  a  collection  of  thoughtful  essays,  the  product  of  a  cultivated  and  re- 
flecting miud,  and  pervaded  by  a  wise  and  wnolesome  spirit." —  The  Congregationalist. 


Copies  of  the  "New  History  of  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill."  and  of  "  The 
Siege  and  Evacuation  of  Boston  and  Charlestown,"  in  one  volume,  hound 
in  hoards,  may  be  had  at  No.  3  State  Street,  Boston,  and  will  he  sent  hy 
mail,  postpaid,  on  receipt  of  price,  $!■ 


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